This Sunday, the “Pep Team” returns to the stadium where they recorded their first La Liga victory in the 2008-2009 season. Some would say that “  El Molinón” was where it all started for Guardiola and his players, having thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1 after a festival of football.

The bad news for Barcelona coming into the match is that Cesc Fàbregas joins Andres Iniesta and Alexis Sanchez on the injured list. This signifies that Thiago Alcantara is extremely likely to start alongside Xavi and Busquets in the midfield.  Barça’s new Catalan signing will be out for a mere 3 weeks after his right hamstring muscle. However, during one of these 3 weeks, Barcelona will not have a fixture because of International games.

Barça go into the game after having destroyed BATE Borizov 5-0, in a game where Lionel Messi equaled Kubala for the 2^nd top scorer of all time (194 goals in all competitions). The Hungarian legend, however, still has more league goals than the Argentina captain, with 131 La Liga goals in a Barcelona shirt to Messi’s 127. So, theoretically speaking, Messi needs to score 4 goals in order to equal Kubala’s La Liga tally, and nobody doubts that he will accomplish this.

 

Lionel Messi will start the match at “false 9” and will attempt to add to his astonishing tally of 14 goals and 10 assists in 10 games so far this season. After last weekend’s manita against Atletico, striker David Villa said that “nobody can compare with Messi” and that what he is doing makes some people want to “close their eyes.”

The match against Sporting is David Villa’s second game of the season versus one of his ex-clubs. In the game against Valencia, he came on as a second half substitute and saw an attempt blocked by Guaita at close range. Barça’s number 7 tends to fair well against the Asturian side, having equalized for Barça in the 1-1 away draw last season with a cheeky chip over the goalkeeper. Despite the goal having been spectacular, he did not celebrate it in respect for the people of his home town.

Sporting Gijon will approach the match in terrible form having only picked up one point in the first 5 games of the campaign. They are bottom of the table and alongside Athletic Bilbao, the only side this season not to have won a match. After their 4-0 thrashing by the hands of Atlético Madrid 2 weeks ago, manager Manuel Preciado at least was able to take responsibility for his team’s poor performance by stating that “I am responsible for this s***.” For me, it is better that a coach takes responsibility for his team’s flaws, rather than looking for every excuse in the book.

FC Barcelona predicted lineup: Valdes, Alves, Mascherano, Pique, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Thiago, Messi, Villa, Pedro.

Prediction: Sporting 1-3 Barcelona

 

Article written by Barcaloco contributor Keenan Manresa. Follow Keenan on Twitter at @knnza.