Barcelona-Maiorca is a match on the 28th day of La Liga and is played on Friday at 9 p.m.: odds, predictions, live TV and streaming.
Last Sunday Barcelona had a golden opportunity: to nibble a few more points off a Real Madrid side that is certainly not having the best time of its season and is conceding something. The Blancos were stopped at the Mestalla by Valencia but their Blaugrana rivals did not take advantage, going no further than a draw at the San Mames against hostile Athletic Bilbao (0-0).
Xavi’s team thus remains third in the standings, just a pasting behind their Girona cousins and -8 behind Carlo Ancelotti’s men, a lead that is certainly important after 27 days in the league. Until the verdict of mathematics, however, Barça has a duty to believe and to try: there is no shortage, in any case, of stimuli for Lewandowski and his teammates, who in the advance match with Mallorca have the chance to momentarily climb to second place, since in case of victory they would rise to 61 points, putting further pressure on Real, which is back from another uninspiring performance against Leipzig in the Champions League (at the end of the match the Blancos were even booed by the “Bernabeu” crowd).
Xavi could rotate some players ahead of the delicate match with Napoli next Tuesday: at the “Lluis Companys” they will restart from the 1-1 draw at the “Maradona” even if in the meantime the Azzurri seem to have grown.
Barcelona, however, will also have to watch out for Mallorca, on the wings of enthusiasm after qualifying for the King’s Cup final, where they will face Athletic Bilbao. The Balearic club, just a few days after the San Sebastian feat with Real Sociedad, also returned to success in La Liga by beating Girona 1-0 with a goal by Copete (the third useful result in a row for Javier Aguirre’s team). The Mexican coach must forgo the disqualified Mascarell against Barça, while Xavi will be without two important pawns like de Jong and Pedri.
The prediction
Although distracted by the Champions match with Napoli and despite a few important absences, Barcelona should win without major problems the challenge with Mallorca, which on the road so far has barely collected eight points (only one win). The number of total goals will be between two and four.
Barcelona-Maiorca likely lineups
BARCELONA (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Koundé, Cubarsì, I. Martinez, Cancelo; Gundogan, Christensen, F. Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Joao Felix.
MAIORCA (5-3-2): Rajkovic; Gonzalez, Valjent, Raillo, Copete, J. Costa; A. Sanchez, S. Costa, D. Rodriguez; Muriqi, Larin.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
