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Ground to make up
Sunday saw Barcelona produce arguably their best display of the season as they put five goals past Real Madrid in a Clásico thumping in the final of the Spanish Supercopa. It was a performance to savour for Hansi Flick and his players.
However, Barca return to Spain to play in another cup competition this week with Real Betis hoping to be the latest team to expose the Catalans at Montjuïc following recent wins for Atlético Madrid, Las Palmas and Leganés at Barca’s temporary home.
These defeats raised concerns that opposition teams were starting to figure out Barcelona’s high defensive line. Hansi Flick’s high-risk approach might be entertaining, but it doesn’t always result in the most controlled performances by his side.
In LaLiga, Barcelona finished up for the winter break on a run of just one win in seven games. Since then, though, they have dispatched Barbastro in the Copa del Rey round of 32 and handily defeated Athletic Club and Real Madrid in the Supercopa. The rest has revived them.
Real Betis, on the other hand, suffered a 1-0 loss to Real Valladolid on Saturday to bring a seven-match unbeaten run to an end. The flip side of that record is that Los Verdiblancos have won just one of their last eight league outings.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have already taken points from Barcelona this season, drawing 2-2 with them at the start of December, and could once again be a thorn in the side of the Catalans.
Key players
Lamine Yamal put on a show in Sunday’s Spanish Supercopa final, scoring a stunning equaliser and generally posing a threat in the final third for Barcelona. Real Madrid had no way to handle him.
Flick has suggested he could manage the 17-year-old’s minutes as he continues his recovery from injury, but Barca will want to keep up their run going in the cup competitions. They need their best creator player on the pitch.
Vitor Roque could return to the Real Betis starting lineup against his parent club while Isco is expected to start having only recently returned from injury.
A lot of pressure will be on Real Betis central destroyer and USMNT international Johnny Cardoso to break up Barcelona attacks in the middle of the pitch with Sergi Altimira alongside him.
Team news
Iñigo Martínez sustained a hamstring injury in the 5-2 win over Real Madrid in Sunday’s Spanish Supercopa final and is expected to miss the next month of action, only adding to Barca’s number of defensive absentees.
However, Ronald Araújo could start his first league match of the season after making his long-awaited return from injury off the bench against Real Madrid. The Uruguayan will be a straight replacement for Martínez in central defence.
Giovani Lo Celso will miss the match at Montjuic after picking up a muscle injury in the defeat to Real Valladolid while Héctor Bellerín, Chimy Avila and William Carvalho are long-term absentees.
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