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Real Valladolid (18th, 14 points) vs FC Barcelona (5th, 21 points) *
* Points and positions at the time of writing on Monday
Competition / Round: 2020-21 The league, Matchday 15
Barcelona departures and doubts: Ansu Fati, Gerard Piqué, Sergi Roberto, Ousmane Dembélé, Matheus Fernandes, Konrad De La Fuente (out)
Valladolid Departures and Questions: Kiko Olivas, Saidy Janko (out), Joaquin Fernández (doubt)
Date and Time: Tuesday, December 22, 2020, 10 pm CET / WAT (Barcelona and Nigeria), 9 pm GMT (UK), 4 pm ET, 1 pm PT (US), 2.30 am IST (India, Wednesday)
Event venue: José Zorilla Stadium, Valladolid, Spain
Referee: Mario Melero López
WHERE: José Luis Munuera Montero
How to watch on television: beIN SPORTS (US and Canada), LaLigaTV (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), Not available (India), others
How to broadcast: FuboTV (US), Premier Player (UK), Facebook Live (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
After a disappointing home draw against Valencia at the weekend, Barcelona are back in action in The league for the final match before a week of Christmas holidays, against Real Valladolid on the road.
Barça are already undefeated in their last three games but failed to win three games in a row for the first time this season thanks to a terrible performance against Valencia, but if they manage to do four without defeat with three wins in four, things will suddenly look better . But this team has to stop getting in its own way.
Barça’s ability to complicate things is almost impressive, and Ronald Koeman seems allergic to good decisions in the important moments. Lineup options and substitutions almost always contradict what the game needs at any particular time, and Koeman remains unconfident that his coaching work will pay off this season.
At this rate, qualifying for the Champions League in fourth place will be considered a successful season for a manager used to mediocrity, and perhaps we shouldn’t expect this version of Barça to go too far because the manager is not good enough. Maybe fourth place with winning streaks of four games and two or three good games every two months is normal for this team, and we have to deal with the blows.
It is depressing? Yes. It’s reality? Yes, but expecting something from this team is almost as sad as accepting mediocrity. So let’s go with the punches and celebrate a win against a relegation candidate if it happens, okay?
Let’s Dance!
/sarcasm
POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Pjanic, De Jong; Griezmann, Pedri, Coutinho; Messi
Valladolid (4-4-2): Masip; Hervias, González, Yamiq, Carnero; Orellana, Alcaraz, Mesa, Plano; Weissman, De Sousa
PREDICTION
I’m not sure why, but I trust that the team will do a good job ahead of the Christmas break and avoid a week of negativity: 3-0 Barça.
