Preview : Almeria - Barcelona

Venue : Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos, Almeria

Barcelona travel to Andalusia on Sunday to take on Hugo Sanchez’s Almeria. Almeria gained promotion to the top-flight in 2006-07 and finished last season at 8^th position. In the first leg at the Nou Camp, Barca wiped the floor with Almeria going 5 goals and a man up by the 37^th minute. The most noticeable aspect of the game was, just how easy it was for Barca to stroll through and win 5-0.

However, Almeria are a different side at home and Barca have won only once in 3 visits to the Estadio Mediterraneos although they have never lost to Almeria either. The Andalucians have only 3 losses in the last 10 matches and sit in 10^th position after Bilbao’s loss to Madrid. They are only 6 points above the relegation zone and 11 points from a Uefa Cup spot. Difficult to beat at home, they have conceded only 0.93 goals per game and lost only twice. The losses came against Sevilla and Deportivo. At home they proclaim a win percentage of 53% and have not lost since November. Taking aside the 5-0 loss to Barca, none of their 11 defeats all season has been by a greater than 2 goals margin and that happened only on 2 occasions. All in all, they give the impression that they will be no pushovers.

Going into Sunday’s game against Almeria, Barca’s main objectives (in order of importance) will be:

1. To maintain momentum
2. To give playing time to some bench-warmers and shore up their confidence ahead of key games
3. To test some tactical variations

The squad list put out by Guardiola consists of : Valdés, Pinto,
Alves, Piqué, Márquez, Cáceres, Sylvinho, Xavi, Víctor Sánchez, Touré, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Messi, Eto'o, Bojan, Henry, Hleb, i.e the usual everyone available list.

Only 5 defenders have been named and the most likely change will be Caceres for Sylvinho. In midfield, Pep will probably rest either Xavi or Iniesta with Iniesta being more likely, having just returned from injury. Gudjohnsen would be my pick for the starting place though I fancy Guardiola may use the opportunity to give Hleb a chance in midfield given his abject failure on the wings. Busquets will probably replace Toure Yaya in the holding role.

It is Jornada 27 and Bojan has yet to get a start. He is one of the few attacking options Barca have and it is important to give him some playing time to boost his confidence. Maintaining momentum, continuing the resurgence is vital so the greater part of the strike force in Messi and one of Eto’o or Henry is likely to be retained. While Henry seems in great form, Eto’o is in the process of rediscovering his goal-scoring touch and so seems the likelier option to start. I wonder if the success of Luis Enrique’s 4-4-2 with the Barca Athletic team will inspire Guardiola to try a different formation for this one.

Hugo Sanchez has weaned Almeria off their 4-5-1 formation earlier in the season to a 4-4-2 with Kalu Uche starting alongside Negredo. The latter was Almeria’s top scorer last season with 13 goals helping them to an 8^th place finish. This season he already has 16.

Almeria’s standard line-up: Diego Alves, Bruno, Acasiete, Pellerano, Mane, Ortiz, Juanito, Iriney/Corona, Crusat, Negredo, Mane.

Almeria’s habit of defending deep did them in at the Nou Camp with the Barca midfield and strikers easily crafting numerous opportunities. This time round, a solid defensive performance will be Barca’s best improvement to take home. With a few changes in the Barca side and Almeria’s tough home record this game is unlikely to end up the romp in the park that the Nou Camp fixture was.

Prediction : Almeria 1 – 3 Barcelona

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