FC Barcelona are now five points behind arch-rivals Real Madrid after the El Clasico loss on Sunday. The La Liga race is obviously far far away from over, but Madrid do have some breathing room now at the top. And since that result, injury was added to insult. (Sorry, poet and don’t even know it! These rhymes were not intentional) Wednesday’s big Barca news is the hamstring tear that Pedri suffered in training.
He’ll be out until after the November internationals, at least.
FC Barcelona vs Elche FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday Nov. 2, Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Barca Preview Material: Team News
Google’s Result Probability: FC Barcelona 79% Draw 13% Elche 8%
La Liga Standing, Form, Goal Differential: FC Barcelona 2nd, 22 pts, WWLWL, +13 Elche 8th, 14 pts, DWLDL, +1
Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski returned to training this week, but we only see the former starting in this one, not the latter. With the Pedri situation, we think he’ll come right in, out of need. Lewy might feature off the bench, subbing for Marcus Rashford or Ferran Torres. We’ll see.
Or the face of Polish football for the past decade or thereabouts could come in and go the full 90. I mean, it’s a prediction, so it’s hard to really say.
FC Barcelona Predicted Starting XI vs Elche
Wojciech Szczesny; Eric Garcia, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong; Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Marcus Rashford; Ferran Torres
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN.