Barça does not want distractions against Elche

Barcelona has today against Elche one of those trap games. The team led by Xavi takes on the team from Elche with the aim of continuing the good run but with several points of distraction. The possible rapprochement with Haaland, the signing of Pablo Torre or the tie against Galatasaray in the Europa League should not divert attention from a team, the Blaugrana, who need to add three points again to continue with the good dynamics and continue in positions of Champions League.

“We’re fine, but we haven’t done anything. You have to be cautious. The first leg is a reference. It made life difficult for us here and it will cost us there because it is a difficult field”, Xavi warned at the press conference prior to the match. The Tarrasa coach knows that at this moment there is no worse rival for his team than distractions, relaxation. Barça arrives at the match against Francisco’s team at the best moment of the season after beating Valencia, Napoles and Athletic Club, three substantial rivals who received a goal poker game at the hands of Aubameyang, Pedri, Adama and company .

Despite the good dynamics, Xavi knows that the club has gone through a week in which the focus has changed and he has stopped targeting green. Haaland, about whom the culé coach “cannot give details” or Pablo Torre, a brand new signing from Racing de Santander, have taken over the culé information and have been able to divert the attention of a team that has finally found the formula to channel a season that seemed doomed to be endless. The azulgranas are the best team so far in 2022 with 17 points of the 21 they have played, a mark that Barça wants to continue improving at Martínez Valero.

For this, Xavi will not be able to count on the injured Balde, Sergi Roberto, Umtiti and Ansu Fati. They are the only absences that the one from Tarrasa will have to form an eleven in which the options do not stop multiplying for Barça, especially in attack. The arrival of the new trident made up of Adama Traoré, Aubameyang and Ferran Torres, the recovery of Memphis Depay and the emergence of Luuk de Jong and Ousmane Dembélé leave Xavi with a wide range of resources to combat the calendar that the Catalans have left in the rest of the course. “There are options in attack and I am delighted because I did not have them before,” stressed a coach who could rotate against Elche thinking about the five games that his team plays in the next 15 days.

Two teams fit

Barça arrives at a great moment, but so does Elche. Francisco’s team lives further and further away from the positions that mark relegation and has made Martínez Valero a fort in which to forge permanence. The people from Elche already know what it means to compete head-to-head against the Catalans this season after having Xavi’s men against the ropes in the duel of the first round in December and they will look for three points that will bring them one step closer to the objective of the permanence. «It will be a very different game from the Camp Nou, where we were better at times. The match plan will be different due to the opponent’s form,” Francisco acknowledged.

To strike against Barça, Francisco will not be able to count on Pedro Bigas, Helibelton Palacios and Javier Pastore due to injury, nor will he be able to do so due to suspension with Gerard Gumbau. All these absences will condition an eleven in which the Almeria coach has already announced that there would also be news with the aim of “oxygenating the team” and in which there could even be a change of system with the aim of stopping a Barça launched in attack.