By THE INDEPENDENT UG
MADRID, SPAIN | Xinhua | FC Barcelona travels to Las Palmas for its first match of 2024, knowing it has little margin for error against one of the revelations of the season.
Barca is seven points behind joint leaders Real Madrid and Girona, but that gap could grow to 10 on Wednesday if both teams win their respective matches against Mallorca and Atletico Madrid, and for all Xavi Hernandez’s bullish talk before the Christmas break, that is a huge margin to recover.
Pedri, Inigo Martinez, Marc Andre Ter Stegen and Gavi are all out for Barcelona, and new signing, Victor Roque has still not been included in Barca’s squad by LaLiga, although the striker could get the OK before Thursday’s game.
Las Palmas coach Javier Garcia Pimienta spent 19 years working in the Barcelona youth system and coached the club’s B-team and that is evident in his team’s impressive passing game.
Las Palmas has conceded just 15 goals all season and goalkeeper, Alvaro Valles, has been one of the players of the season in Spain. The only setback for Las Palmas is that Mexican defender Julian Araujo will be unavailable against parent club Barcelona.
15,000 fans watched Sevilla train on Tuesday ahead of its game at home to Athletic Club.
Athletic Club travels to the south of Spain fifth in LaLiga after taking 10 points from the last 12 and with coach Ernesto Valverde named manager of the month for December.
Valverde, completing his 500th game as a coach in LaLiga, is without in-form forward Inaki Williams, who is on African Cup of Nations duty, while new Sevilla boss, Quique Sanchez Flores loses Youssef En-Nesyri for the same reason.
Quique seems to have brought some order to the side since replacing Diego Alonso as coach, but his home debut is key for Sevilla’s near future.
Thursday also sees Almeria travel to Osasuna still looking for its first win of the season against a rival who will look to the game as a big opportunity to put three points on the board. ■
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