La Liga Preview: Barcelona - Mallorca

Time To Rest Ibra & Messi?

Following their last UEFA Champions League tie Barcelona returned to Camp Nou to thrash Real Zaragoza 6-1 in the Primera Liga and this time around they will be keen to return to winning ways once again after a cold night in Russia against Rubin Kazan.

Barring the mauling of Zaragoza, lately Barca have not been scoring in the same free flowing manner with which we have become accustomed. In fact September 22 against Racing Santander was the last time they scored more than two in a game. Thankfully from their point of view, Seydou Keita has hit the goal trail and fringe starlet Pedro has also got on the score sheet in a handful of games to share some of the work load but as a partnership Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Lionel Messi haven't really delivered a goal tally that the Blaugrana's dominant football deserves.

So coach Pep Guardiola must decide whether to use this game to give his two top scorers a rest and rely on the likes of Pedro, Bojan Krkic and Thierry Henry to lead the line or whether they should continue up front with three vital points at stake.

If he decides not to rest one or both, the opportunity to do so won't come any time soon with an away trip to San Mames to take on Athletic Bilbao followed by the visit of Inter & Real Madrid to Camp Nou coming immediately after the international break.

Jekyll & Hyde

So far this season Mallorca look like a different side entirely on the road to at the Ono Estadi. They can boast a home record as good as Barcelona or Real Madrid as they have a perfect five wins from five but on the road they are yet to win in four attempts.

Gregorio Manzano's side go into Saturday's tie knowing that they won the last meeting between these sides in May when they came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory at the Ono Estadi but Barca already had the league wrapped up at that stage.

Manzano and the club currently have the unwelcome distraction of off-field worries regarding the financial stability of the club but on-field they will need to avoid a performance like the one which saw them lose 4-1 at Sporting Gijon despite taking an early lead. There only other defeat this season was a 2-0 loss against Sevilla but there recent record against Barca does not make for good reading with eight defeats in ten games.

FORM GUIDE

Barcelona

Nov 4 Rubin Kazan 1-1 Barcelona (UEFA Champions League)

Oct 31 Osasuna 1-1 Barcelona (La Liga)

Oct 28 Cultural Leonesa 0-2 Barcelona (Copa del Rey)

Oct 25 Barcelona 6-1 Real Zaragoza (La Liga)

Oct 20 Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan (UEFA Champions League)

Mallorca

Nov 1 Mallorca 1-0 Racing Santander (La Liga)

Oct 29 Valladolid 2-1 Mallorca (Copa del Rey)

Oct 24 Atletico Madrid 1-1 Mallorca (La Liga)

Oct 18 Mallorca 3-1 Getafe (La Liga)

Oct 4 Sporting Gijon 4-1 Mallorca (La Liga)

TEAM NEWS

Barcelona

Pep Guardiola has almost an entirely fit squad at his disposal but may decide to rest some of his busier players with one eye on a tough series of games following the international break.

Probable Starting XI (4-3-3): Valdes – Alves, Pique, Chygrynskiy, Abidal – Toure, Xavi, Iniesta – Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Henry

Mallorca

Gregorio Manzano is likely to stick with the same team that beat Racing last weekend although Josemi and Ivan Ramis are back from suspension.

Probable Starting XI (4-4-2): Aouate – Ayoze, Ruben, Nunes, Mattioni – Borja Valero, Mario Suarez, Julio Alvarez, Castro – Webo, Victor.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Barcelona

With goals not exactly free flowing for the Barca attackers, Pedro may be the man to make the difference for the Blaugrana as they look to maintain their narrow lead at the top of the table.

Mallorca

If the visitors are to change their fortunes on the road in this game they will look to Borja Valero to craft that special moment to open the Barca defence.

PREDICTION

Pep Guardiola will have his team well drilled on the importance of winning this game and maintaining their presence at the top of the table going into the international break and they should have too much quality for the visitors even with allowing for rested players.

Barcelona 2-0 Mallorca

Paul Madden, Goal.com