17.02.2010 11:26
Up to ten players unavailable
Jesús Carrillo
It’s not just FC Barcelona that is plagued by a rash of injuries and suspensions. Racing Santander will come to the Camp Nou next weekend without Munitis, Colsa, Tchité, Crespo and former Barça player Luis García.
As of Wednesday Racing manager Miguel Ángel Portugal knows he’ll be without five of his key
players for next Saturday’s match. As for Barça, Guardiola is unlikely to be able to call on
Alves, Xavi, Keita, Abidal and Touré Yayá, though the Ivory Coast international may just make it in
time.
Injuries and suspensions
In the case of Barça all the absent players are recovering from injury while for
Racing Gonzalo Colsa and Pedro Munitis received their fifth yellow card in last week’s match
and are suspended. Mohamed Tchité is also suspended after being sent off. However, both Crespo
–a defender on loan from Sevilla– and Luis García, are unavailable due to injury.
Ten probable first choices
So both Josep Guardiola and Miguel Ángel Portugal will be without five probable
first choices though Guardiola will welcome back Piqué and Marquez after suspension. The Racing
coach can count on Henrique – on loan from Barça – who missed the game against Malaga
as he has recently become a father.
Home-grown talent
Both coaches will look to the reserves to fill in the gaps in their respective squads. For Barça,
Marc Bartra, Marc Muniesa, Jonathan dos Santos, Oriol Romeu, Jordi Masip and Gai Assulin have all
been training with the senior squad over the past few days. Meanwhile, Racing will rely on
youngsters Juanjo, Luisma, Osmar and Ortíz, among others to complete the squad for the match
against FC Barcelona.