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LaLiga

LaLiga 2024-2025 - Matchday 17

Barça-Leganés: A 'simple' home game to take off in LaLiga

Published:14/12/2024 - 16:25h

Updated:14/12/2024 - 22:09h

Hansi Flick's team will host this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys an opponent that has only won 3 of the 15 games played and has not won for more than a month

Calendar of FC Barcelona

Barça showed their determination and epic spirit to get a victory in Dortmund, a game in which they never fell behind, but they did have to come back three times on the scoreboard. So, after having taken the three points in a game that gave them morale, it is important to extrapolate these feelings to the domestic championship. This Sunday, at 9:00 p.m., in Montjuic, the Blaugrana team, leader of the competition, will receive the visit of Leganés, who are seventeenth and have not been able to win away from their stadium.

This matchday will be the first of the two that Hansi Flick has been suspended for after his expulsion against Real Betis. Curiously, he will miss two home games, both against Madrid teams: this weekend Leganés and, next weekend, against Atlético de Madrid. In a press conference he addressed this issue from various perspectives. Regarding the red card, he was self-critical, he accepted the card and raised the possibility of working on his behavior. He also explained that the last thing he will say to the players "will be in the hotel" and that, if they win, the next day he will hug the players.

Marcus Sorg, assistant to the former Bayern coach, will be the one to take the reins of the squad during both matches. The coach has not hesitated to publicly reinforce the confidence in his assistant: "We have good communication. He is a coach with a lot of experience, he knows a lot about football. I believe in him and he has the quality to manage it."

Barça could come out with rotations and Araujo

The Blaugrana team is not going through its best moment in the domestic championship. After having started in steamroller mode, it is now suffering a journey through the desert, in which it has only managed 5 of the last 15 points at stake. Thus, the objective is the same as a few days ago: to win and convince in order to establish a good dynamic. This visit to Leganés could be a good time to improve the team's performance, as it is not the most demanding match and offering a good image would have a positive effect on the last match of the year, against Atlético.

Hansi Flick has answered in the press conference before the match about those chosen to start this Sunday. The question was directed towards possible rotations, an option that the coach has not ruled out: "Leganés is tomorrow and we are not thinking about Atlético. You have to decide with the same team, they have played together in the last matches. We have players on the bench of great quality. It is good to make some rotations, but we have not decided yet. It could be." Also, in this match Araujo is expected to reappear, as the coach himself confirmed: "The plan is for him to play a few minutes, I don't know how many. Maybe he will be in the starting eleven. If he is not, the plan is for him to be able to play. He can do it and he is ready."

Ansu Fati and Andreas Christensen are not yet ready for this match, but they are already doing part of the training sessions with their teammates. However, they are already making progress and the Blaugrana infirmary is left with fewer and fewer patients, which is very positive. In the same way, to avoid more injuries, this matchday there could be some changes to players who are accumulating many minutes, such as Iñigo Martínez, Dani Olmo or Raphinha. Regarding the latter, who was substituted due to discomfort in Dortmund but is training normally, Flick has not been forceful: "Today is his birthday, he has positive energy. I will speak with him tomorrow and we have not yet made the decision as to whether he will rest."

Leganés does not handle the trips well

FC Barcelona will host Leganés. The Madrid team, recently promoted, is seventeenth in the table, with 15 points. They have only managed to win 3 of the 15 games they have played, all of which have been at home. Away from Butarque, they have played 8 matches, of which they have drawn 5 and lost 3. In reality, the trips do not suit the team from the capital, as they have not managed to win a game since a 0-2 victory against Athletic Club in July 2020.

Borja Jiménez, the visiting coach, will not be able to count on Enric Franquesa, a player who tore his cruciate ligament more than a month ago. Similarly, perhaps they are considering whether to line up Renato Tapia, who is on the verge of suspension due to an accumulation of cards. Those who will be available, and are expected to be starters, are Adrià Altimira and Munir el Haddadi, former FC Barcelona youth players who will now be rivals of the club that trained them.

FC Barcelona and Leganés will meet this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. The statistics are clearly in favour of the home team, which has won 7 of the 8 matches played in recent years. The only time that the team from Pepinero beat the Catalans was in 2017, in a match in which Óscar Rodríguez and El Zhar turned around an early goal from Philippe Coutinho (2-1).

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