Barcelona likely to be without a number of players against Mallorca
The good feeling of announcing Ferran Torres as their new signing did not last very long for Barcelona.
The Catalan side were able to go through the first half of the season without needing to deal with absences due to Covid-19. That is no longer the case.
A number of players, including Dani Alves, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde, have tested positive for Covid-19 and are not going to be available for the first match of the New Year against Mallorca.
Alves was not going to be available regardless as the game takes place one day before La Liga allows clubs to register players. Alba and Lenglet could have featured with the former having a higher chance of starting.
When it was announced Alba tested positive, it meant Balde could have seen some playing time. He then tested positive as well throwing that possibility out the window.
LATEST NEWS | Alejandro Balde received a positive antigen test given today before training in accordance with La Liga Covid-19 protocol.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 28, 2021
The player is in good health and is in isolation at his home. The Club has informed the relevant authorities. pic.twitter.com/JZLqcrQOao
This leaves Xavi with the unenviable task of having to carefully select his back line as his team goes into the match without four defenders.
Barcelona is already going to be without Sergio Busquets and Gavi who both picked up their fifth yellow card against Sevilla and will each serve a one-game suspension. This on top of the number of players out with injury. Neither Ansu Fati nor Pedri are likely to be fit in time for the match and the club is not going to be take any risk with their recovery.
As if that wasn’t bad enough Ousmane Dembélé did not take part in training as he was not feeling well. Barcelona is waiting the results of his PCR test as he got married during the break.
⚠️🔵🔴 Dembélé no se ha entrenado por “malestar general” tras volver de las vacaciones. Está pendiente del resultado de la PCR #fcblive pic.twitter.com/5I1rYGWoQk
— Albert Rogé (@albert_roge) December 28, 2021
Mallorca is also dealing with the virus and will be without some of their players as well.
Barcelona know they need to vastly improve on their results from the first half of the season if they aspire to reach the Champions League next season. They signed Torres but are now missing four players. At the moment, it feels like one step forward, two steps backward.