Barcelona have a pretty tough task ahead of them.
The Catalans have so far tallied mixed results along the way in the ongoing 2019/20 La Liga season, to say the least. But still, even with their apparent troubles, they are still second in the table, just behind the league leaders, Real Madrid, and one spot above Atletico Madrid.
Needless to say, the top three clubs in the competitions are slowly but surely regaining their dominance over the Spanish top-flight once again but even with that being said, these are still just early days and the campaign is rather long.
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But even though Eibar might not seem like a big challenge for a club of Barcelona’s stature, especially considering they’re currently sitting 14th in the table with just two wins under their belts, there’s more to this small Basque team than initially meets the eye.
In fact, they are unbeaten in the last three games and have won against the likes of Sevilla and Celta Vigo while tallying a draw against Real Betis.
By all means, they are a team on the rise and their only two wins of the season have come at their home ground of Ipurua. Not to mention that Barcelona have a dodgy record away from home this season, registering only a single win on the road from five games played across all competitions so far.
With all of that in mind, they cannot take this game for granted and if they needed an additional reason to give Jordi Alba some minutes this Saturday already, they definitely got one now.
The returning Spaniard has had some difficulties with injuries as of late.
Even though he played a total of four games and managed to already score a goal in La Liga in 2019/20, a hamstring injury back in September sidelined the pacy 30-year-old for four games overall.
But now, he is finally ready to return and after his inclusion in the official squad list, Barcelona should be looking to give him some valuable minutes ahead of a tough next week.
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Alba’s presence has been sorely missed in these weeks that he had to take off.
After all, we’re talking about a player who has that special connection with Lionel Messi and a player who has a keen eye for setting up a goal from that left side of the pitch.
But even though it does sound a bit risky throwing him into the fire immediately after his return from a tricky injury, Valverde should seriously consider that option, even if it’s just a cameo appearance from the bench.
Barcelona have a mid-week Champions League clash after that game and even though El Clasico has been officially postponed to a later date, getting Alba game ready and sharp should be their priority moving forward.
The first couple of weeks in the ongoing campaign have been rather sloppy and it wouldn’t really be a stretch to say that the Catalans can’t afford any more slip-ups in the future fixtures.
Not to mention that with both Alba and Junior Firpo, his replacement, sidelined for a while, Nelson Semedo had to deputise and play on the opposite side of the pitch for a couple of games.
Luckily, the Portuguese right-back did just fine at times but now that the Spaniard is back in action, Semedo can return to his natural position opposite of Alba and Barcelona can proceed as planned.
Still, they will need their returning star to hit the ground running and for that reason, Valverde should seriously consider throwing him straight into the mix on Saturday afternoon already.
Let’s see what the Basque coach decides.