Watch the LIVE stream of Mallorca v Barcelona via beIN CONNECT

Date – Saturday, June 13, 2020; Kick-Off – 23:00 Mecca; Channel – 11 HD

Gareth Messenger

Mallorca has a fight on its hands. A fight for survival. Currently occupying 18th in the table, just one point adrift so not a fight, but more a scrap to clutch as many points a possible. 

Already the problems are clear to see. The left-back spot in particular. Baba Rahman, on loan from Chelsea, suffered a knee injury in his second game, and didn’t play again.

In January, they signed Leonardo Koutris on loan from Olympiakos, and his second game he suffered a knee injury, and didn’t play again either. That left Lumor Agbenyenu, on loan from Sporting Lisbon, but he is now injured too. The only available left-back at Mallorca’s disposal right now is a 51-year-old former Premier League winner.

Graeme Le Saux is now a director at the club, but even when desperate times call for desperate measures, he certainly will not be dusting off the boots any time soon.

It has been a miserable season for the side from the island. The 1-0 victory over Real Madrid back in October has been the standout and results have certainly been mixed. They will be very reliant on the goals of Croatian striker Ante Budimir if they have any chance of staying up. 

Mallorca Predicted Team
Reina, Pozo, Valjent, Raillo, Gamez, Rodriguez, Sevilla, Mohammed, Kubo, Budimir, Hernandez

Barcelona is always going to be in title contention. That is just the unwritten law. Whenever La Liga is taking place Barcelona is expected to win and win well. On the return to La Liga action, La Blaugrana have a chance to move five points clear of Real Madrid, albeit temporarily. 

Quique Setien will be delighted to have Luis Suarez back and fit again after an injury layoff which initially ruled him out of this summer’s original Copa America plans for Uruguay. But the striker has had his recovery time and certainly expected to be involved when the first ball is kicked again. 

There were concerns over the fitness of Lionel Messi – but he has trained this week and is expected to be in the starting XI. 

One worry for Barca fans though will be can the team stop the erratic form prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The last game was a laboured 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad. But before that it was a 2-0 defeat in El Clasico, a draw against Napoli in the Champions League and in the space of two weeks at the end of January and start of February, lost badly to Valencia in the league and were dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao.

Those are the questions that we will get answers to over the coming weeks. 

Barcelona Predicted Team
Ter Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba, Arthur, Busquets, De Jong, Messi, Suarez, Griezmann