Granada – FC Barcelona | Live the match of matchday 9 of the League, today on SPORT

Barça lineup!

We already have the Barça lineup! And there is a surprise: Fermín forms as a starter.

Bad reception for Barça

This is the reception that the Granada fans have given to Barça:

The referee

The Rioja native leads the meeting César Soto Grado, whom all culers will remember as the referee who on the first day, at the Coliseum, against Getafe, sent off Raphinha and Xavi. Curious that the Blaugrana team has a negative balance with this referee: four defeats, one draw and only three wins in eight games. Carlos del Cerro Grande from Madrid will assist him from the VOR room. Here you have the history of Soto Grado with Barça.

Given the difficulties that Celta and Mallorca caused Barça, the Valencian coach could modify his usual scheme to opt for a defense of five. The recovery of Miguel Rubio and Jesús Vallejo opens up more alternatives for him at the back, although the centre-back on loan from Real Madrid initially aims for the bench after having been out since the first day.

Granada’s casualties

We have analyzed Barça’s losses, but not those of Granada. Paco López cannot count on the injured Raúl Fernández and Víctor Díaz.

Our envoys to Granada, Dídac Peyret, on editorial duties, and Javi Ferrándiz, on graphic duties, bring us the last hour of the match from the outskirts of Nuevo Los Cármenes:

As a player, things are very different. Full of victories: 5 out of 5. And he also scored a flag goal from a direct free kick:

And from the Andalusian bench, to the Catalan bench. Xavi Hernandez He has to debut his record of victories in Los Cármenes as a coach. In his only visit to the Nasrid fiefdom, in his debut season with Barça, he could only get a draw (1-1). Puertas equalized Luuk de Jong’s initial goal.

The rival

At the head of Granada is Paco Lopez, a Valencian coach who seems to have the measure of Barça. At least as a local. The coach of the Nasrid team has only lost one of the five games in which he has faced the Blaugrana team. And he has chained three in a row without knowing defeat. Furthermore, the 2017-2018 season prevented Ernesto Valverde’s Barça from becoming the first team to complete a league undefeated. The culer team succumbed to Paco López’s Levante 5-4, a match that they lost 5-1. Here you have the whole story.

This is the stage where the match is played: Nuevo Los Cármenes:

The victory is especially important considering that there is no league next weekend due to the national team break. There would be too many days without football and too many days to analyze Barça’s situation, which could be three or four points behind Real Madrid, if they don’t win.

The data

Gavi will have to be extremely careful tonight in Los Cármenes, thinking about the classic against Real Madrid on October 28. Los Palacios is two cards away from suspension and Granada is one of the two stations prior to the white team’s visit to Montjuïc:

Barça’s losses

The Blaugrana team faces the match with the significant losses of Robert Lewandowski, Pedri, Raphinha and Frenkie de Jong. Xavi only has three players in attack: Joao Félix, Ferran Torres and Lamine, if we consider the young forward already in the first team. Hence, he has called up the reserve team’s top scorer, Pau Victor, and the youth team’s top scorer, Marc Guiu.

The preview of SPORT

While we wait for the official announcement of the match lineups, I leave you with the SPORT preview: