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9 months ago
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Barcelona will be hoping to continue their unbeaten streak and do much better than their performance against Athletic Club from the weekend as they take on Mallorca at home tonight.
The Palma outfit held Barcelona to a 2-2 draw the last time around, and will be motivated for this encounter as well, coming off the back of a win against Girona last weekend.
As far as Barcelona are concerned, Xavi has had to make several changes to the starting lineup from the Athletic game.
With Ronald Araujo suspended, Inigo Martinez has taken his place in central defence, while Pedri and Frenkie de Jong have been replaced by Joao Felix on the left-wing and Raphinha in central midfield, respectively.
Xavi has also opted to rest Robert Lewandowski to keep him fresh for Napoli, and has, instead gone for Marc Guiu as the striker, even with winter signing Vitor Roque available.
RAC1 have explained in a report that the coaching staff believe that Guiu is a better fit for tonight’s game than Roque. This is also his first start in La Liga, and only his third game in the league for the club.
The Spaniard is a quick and strong left-footed target man who has a brilliant header and an elite physical presence in the box. This will be useful against Mallorca, who are expected to sit deep and form a low-block in and around their box.
Roque, meanwhile, is more adept at making runs behind the defence, sort of like Jamie Vardy, compared to the Erling Haaland-esque profile of Guiu.
He might not get space for those runs off the shoulder of the last defender, which is why Xavi and co. have opted to bench him in favour of the La Masia striker.
Guiu has scored twice this season, one of which was a sensational winner against Athletic Club earlier this season, and then a headed goal vs Royal Antwerp in the Champions League group stages.
