Barcelona vs Mallorca Match Preview
A 1-1 draw away from home to Osasuna last week cost Barcelona two precious points, but a win at home this weekend against Mallorca will be enough for them to keep their lead at the top of the La Liga table.
Not the time to relax
The league leaders’ crushing 6-1 victory against Real Zaragoza at the Camp Nou made many fans believe that the Catalans were back on track for good, as they had previously failed to get a win in two consecutive games.
Well, after such a brilliant result, it didn’t really look like things were at their very best for the Blaugrana, following a disappointing draw to Osasuna trough a late Gerard Pique own goal.
Barcelona still have more time ahead of them to strengthen their foundation, but it is clear that this weekend’s game at home to Real Mallorca will be a glorious chance for them to prove themselves again in front of their own fans.
Mallorca To Fight Back
Real Mallorca were beaten on several occasions in the past by Barcelona, with goals and assists mainly coming from great players such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry, or Lionel Messi.
Nevertheless, Mallorca can boast of the great achievement they made when they surprisingly defeated the Spanish giants (then coached by Frank Rikjaard) 3-2, to completely spoil Barcelona’s end to the 2007-08 season.
Indeed, Real Mallorca’s players could remember this sweet moment, and use it as their major reason to believe that anything in their favor could happen in this weekend’s game at the Estadio Camp Nou.
The Mallorca club has had pretty good moments in the Spanish League this season, and having been able to win at least 5 games out of 9 played so far in La Liga, the club has been able to temporarily reserve itself a place in Europe, with just a point behind fourth place Valencia who have secured themselves 18 points.
What is ahead…
In a way, Mallorca have reasons to believe that they can upset Barcelona again this weekend and reduce the Catalans’ chances of finishing in first position before the end of the year. On the other hand, the fact that Barcelona’s players will want to prepare themselves ahead of the big clash against Real Madrid, which is set to take place in only three weeks, could be a major threat for the visitors.
Either way, it is true that anything which happens during the 90 minutes will be the interpretation of both sides’ mentality and characters.
In any case, no matter what the result of the match between Barcelona and Mallorca turns out to be, Real Madrid fans will surely watch this game from a close eye, hoping to see the league leaders losing the first spot to Los Blancos.
