Revealed: The unrecognisable front-3 tipped to start for Barcelona at Mallorca
Revealed: The unrecognisable front-3 tipped to start for Barcelona at Mallorca
An insight into the bizarre attacking trident expected to be put to use by Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez this weekend has, on Friday, been provided.
Mallorca test
Barca are of course set to make the club’s post-New Year return to action in a little over 48 hours’ time.
On the back of a shaky close to 2021, the Blaugrana will make the trip to Mallorca on Sunday evening, hopeful of getting their campaign, and push for a spot in the top-4 in La Liga, firmly back on track.
To say that the hopes of Xavi and co. of precisely that have been thrown into disarray over the course of the last week, though, would be something of an understatement.
Amid a campaign to date riddled with injury woes, Barcelona’s squad has now been struck down by a major outbreak of Covid-19.
As things stand, a hefty ten members of the Catalans’ first-team ranks are in the midst of spells in self isolation, including the likes of Sergino Dest, Philippe Coutinho, Jordi Alba, Gavi and Ousmane Dembele.
[MEDICAL UPDATE]
Sergiño Dest, Coutinho and Ez Abde positive for COVID-19.
The players are in good health and self-isolating at home.
The Club has reported the cases to the relevant authorities. pic.twitter.com/pQVqwkykjT
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 30, 2021
De Jong spearheads bizarre front-3
It is therefore safe to say that, upon arriving at the Iberostar Stadium on Sunday, Xavi and his coaching staff will have some work to do, in their efforts to field an XI capable of getting the job done against a plucky Mallorca outfit.
One area of the pitch set to prove particularly troublesome comes in the attacking third, where Barcelona will be unable to call upon ANY of Memphis Depay, Ansu Fati, Martin Braithwaite, Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho or Ez Abde.
Xavi, in turn, will need to be creative, if the Spaniard intends to stick with his favoured use of a front three.
And, as alluded to above, on Friday, an insight into the most likely candidates to fill the spots up top for the Blaugrana on Sunday has been provided.
The info comes courtesy of Diario Sport, who point towards a frankly unrecognisable attacking trident consisting of Luuk de Jong, Ferran Jutgla and Ilias Akhomach.
#FCB 🔵🔴
📝 HISTORIA SPORT
🔱 El tridente para Mallorca: Un descartado, un juvenil y uno del filial
✍️ @scapde_45https://t.co/gkW1MD9Cm5
— Diario SPORT (@sport) December 31, 2021
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