Barcelona look to find ‘stride’ again
Resurgent Real at home to Girona
MADRID, Feb 14, (Agencies): In a slump and under pressure, Barcelona hope they got to fully recharge ahead of the most difficult stretch of the season.
After three consecutive draws, including two in the Spanish league that allowed Real Madrid to cut into their lead, Barcelona got a rare week off before facing a series of crucial matches in the league, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
The break might have been just what Barcelona needed to get its players reinvigorated and refocused, and to make sure thier biggest star, Lionel Messi, is back at full strength following a nagging injury.
“We will be at our best again after a calmer week,” Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic said after the team’s lackluster performance in a scoreless draw at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Four days earlier, Barcelona drew 1-1 with Real Madrid at home in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. The week before,they were held by Valencia to a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou Stadium in the league. The Catalan club had won eight consecutive league matches before that.
It was a tough stretch for Barcelona, coming at the end of a run of 11 consecutive games with no week off. They will now play eight consecutive games, including two against Lyon in the round of 16 of the Champions League and two against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium – the return leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal and a Spanish league match.
“We can’t really blame the calendar,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. “It shouldn’t be used as an excuse.”
The extra rest may have come at a perfect time for Messi, who only played part of the Copa game against Real Madrid because of a right leg injury. He was back for the match against Athletic, but looked out of form from the start and was not a real factor.
Messi had scored in nine straight matches until missing part of the match against Real Madrid. He is the league’s leading scorer with 21 goals – six more than his closest competitor, teammate Luis Suarez.
Barcelona’s setbacks in the league allowed a red-hot Real Madrid to reduce the gap at the top of the standings to six points. They had been 10 points only a few weeks ago.
There is reason for Barcelona to fear their rivals, as Real Madrid have won five straight in the league and seven of their last eight matches in all competitions. Their only setback was the 1-1 draw against Barcelona at Camp Nou in the Copa del Rey.
Atletico Madrid, seven points off the lead, didn’t get closer in the league standings because they lost their last two matches.
“With all due respect to Madrid and Atletico, we have to focus on ourselves,” Rakitic said. “We’ve done well until now and we are still in the lead. We have to keep this going.”
Real, who have won their last five league games and earned a 2-1 victory at Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League on Wednesday, play at home on Sunday against a free-falling Girona side who last won in the league in November.
Atletico Madrid meanwhile visit struggling Rayo Vallecano, plotting their recovery from consecutive defeats to Real Betis and Real which have seen them drop to third, seven points from Barca.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale could be sanctioned for his goal celebration in last week’s 3-1 win in the league at local rivals Atletico Madrid after La Liga’s organizing body said on Thursday he had provoked the home supporters.
The league said in a statement it would refer the incident to the Spanish soccer federation’s competition committee, who will then decide if the Wales forward should be punished.
The statement said Bale, who scored Real’s third goal, “lifted his right arm near his head in a clear sign of provocation towards the fans, then giving a gesture which could be seen as obscene and disdainful by folding his arm and striking it with his other hand.”
Bale’s celebration has been interpreted in Spain as an offensive gesture known colloquially as a ‘corte de mangas’, akin to holding up a middle finger.
The league added that since February 2018, any “offensive goal celebration which could cause tension among supporters or been as contrary to good sportsmanship” would be referred to the competition committee.
If the committee determines that Bale intentionally caused a hostile reaction among supporters, he will be banned for between four and 12 games, according to the federation’s statutes.