Today, FC Barcelona will travel to Manuel Martinez Valero to play against the home team, Elche. Barca have been flying in the league since Xavi Hernandez took charge of this club. They are now in 4th at the point table. However, the Blaugrana have a good chance of going third after today’s match. They are just one point behind the third team, Real Betis. So, Barcelona will go on 3rd if they win today.
Recent form
FC Barcelona are having a great time this month. They have won all of their previous six games in February month. Moreover, the Blaugrana have scored 19 goals in those matches, including twelve goals in their last three games. On the other side, the home team is standing in 14th place with 29 points. They have lost two and have won two matches in their previous five league games. However, no one beat them at the Manuel Martinez Valero stadium since the new manager Francisco took the charge of the club. So, Barca will surely face higher competition today.
Team News
FC Barcelona have several injury issues ahead of the clash against Elche. Young lad Ansu Fati will miss the match due to injury. In addition, Sergio Roberto, Samuel Umtiti, and Martin Braithwaite are unavailable for today’s clash. However, Jordi Alba is back again from the suspension. As Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in great form, the Barca manager will start him today. The manager has many options to rotate the squad.
Manager’s Thought
Barca Manager Xavi Hernandez has talked about the match against Elche. While speaking to the club media, Xavi said,
The first game is a reference. It’ll be hard because they’re much better under Francisco and haven’t lost at home. We need to be careful with their attacks down the wing, we found them very hard to play against. We have five games coming up in two weeks, so we’ll need to rotate to deal with tiredness and fitness. But I’m loving having so many options in attack.
