Shortly after his winning streak in the 2017/2018 Spanish Championship was interrupted, Barcelona will face Malaga, a side they failed to defeat last season as a rival in the ninth round of La Liga. The match will be held at Camp Nou, in Barcelona, starting at 4.45 pm (Brasília time).
Barcelona’s recent performance
After nine successive victories, two in the European Champions League and seven in the Spanish league, Barcelona had to accept a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid in the capital, tournament.
However, by the circumstances, it may even have been considered a good result. Facing a rival that is in the elite squad of La Liga, making his first classic in the new stadium and that came out in front of the scoreboard, the goal that brought the equality in the marker marked by Luis Suárez in the 37 minutes of the final stage had a taste of victory. After all, he not only avoided the loss of unbeaten record but kept Barça in the lead, now with 22 points (seven wins and one draw).
On Wednesday, October 18, the undefeated series was increased to 11 games with a 3-1 win against Olympiacos, also in Barcelona, for the third round of the UEFA Champions League group stage Europe. With nine points, the Catalan team lead the Group D with nine points and is very close to reaching the classification for the round of 16. This can happen with two rounds in advance.
Defender Jordi Alba (seven games in the Spanish 2017/2018 Championship, no goal) is doubtful for Saturday’s showdown. He was until the end of the match against Atletico Madrid, but left the field in pain. Muscle injury was found. The biggest possibility is that he is not released to act. Out of action is also striker Dembelé, who has a comeback scheduled for December alone.
The current form of Malaga
Malaga has a campaign completely opposite to that made by Barcelona. In the eight official matches he held in the season suffered seven defeats and managed only a draw. The club’s most recent success, not counting the preseason friendly matches, came in 7th when Celta beat Vigo 3-0 at home.
Even when the pre-season friendlies are included in the evaluation of Malaga’s performance, the situation does not improve much. The team even managed to beat Villarreal 1-0 on Aug. 11. However, since the start of the 2017/2018 season they were, in total, 15 losses and a draw.
With just one point added, Malaga is in the twentieth and last position of the Spanish Championship and knows that regardless of the results of the day number nine will not leave the relegation zone. Girona, sixteenth and first out of the region of sticking, has five more points.
Coach Miguel José Gonzalez has two probable losses to manage in the match against Barcelona. They are in the infirmary the goalkeeper Cenk Gonen and the half Federico Rico.
History of the matches between Barcelona and Malaga
Málaga managed to get the better of the duels with Barça the previous season. In Catalonia he started a goalless draw. At home, he scored 2 to 0.
PREDICTION: Barcelona win @ 1.071
