A preview of Barcelona"s Spanish Supercup second-leg showdown with Athletic Club at the Camp Nou
FC Barcelona will be looking to pull off the impossible tomorrow at the Camp Nou, when they attempt to overturn a four-goal deficit against Athletic Bilbao and keep their sextuple dreams alive by winning the Supercopa de Espaa. On Friday evening, the Blaugrana were comprehensively played off the park at San Mames, dismantled and humiliated time and time again en route to a crushing 0-4 defeat. Will they be able to replicate that kind of performance themselves back in Catalunya?
The odds are firmly stacked against Bara and with good reason. It was just two days ago that Athletic Club were handing it to us after all; just how much will have changed in the 72 hours between the first leg and tomorrows return? Athletic remain the fitter side, and are perhaps more motivated too; alas, Culs will keep hope alive.
Remuntada?
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BARCELONA
Rotating his squad didnt work out for the best for Luis Enrique on Friday, but theres no real reason to be discouraged. After all, the Supercopa de Espaa remains the least important of the six trophies we will be competing for this season. Naturally, it remains a trophy that we would like to win, but in the grand scheme of things, a loss in the Spanish Supercopa is far more preferable than say, a 0-7 thrashing in the UEFA Champions League. Or a 0-5 loss in El Clasico...ahem.
Equally, the defeat shouldnt alter our opinion of the squad too much. Yes, it brought some issues to light but lets cool the overreactions. Marc-Andr ter Stegen isnt a terrible goalkeeper (and this coming from a staunch Claudio Bravo supporter), Rafinha Alcntara is still a tremendous prospect in midfield, and Luis Suarez isnt bad either. Everyone has off days, and I suppose those off days are more likely to materialise in the aftermath of a gruelling UEFA Super Cup win over Sevilla in Tbilisi.
Plus, to really enjoy the highs of being a Barcelona supporter, you need these lows I mean, its like Culs have already forgotten that the team is human and therefore capable of losing.
Newsflash, they are fallible and thats OK!
Expect Enrique to start his strongest team tomorrow in his bid to keep the sextuple alive; that means Marc-Andr ter Stegen should continue in goal, with Dani Alves, Gerard Piqu, Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu my choices to complete the backline. Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakiti
Source: http://www.barcablaugranes.com/2015/8/16/9162651/supercopa-de-espana-fc-barcelona-vs-athletic-club-match-preview
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