Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is expected to freshen up his squad ahead of a pivotal league clash against Valencia on Sunday.
A brace from Antoine Griezmann at the Vicente Calderon saw Barcelona crash out of Europe at the hands of Atletico Madrid in midweek. This defeat capped off a miserable month for the Catalans that saw them drop 8 points in their last 3 league matches.
Back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in the last two weeks have seen Barcelona’s lead at the top of league table cut to just a single point. Anything less than a win against Valencia at the Camp Nou might prove detrimental to the Blaugrana’s hopes of retaining their La Liga crown.
? Luis Enrique: “We always need the supporters, especially when we are going through tough moments.” pic.twitter.com/V4k3FpVuyC
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 16, 2016
Enrique set to ring in the changes
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is expected to make several changes to his starting XI that is set to take the field against Valencia on Sunday. Sergio Busquets, Dani Alves, Ivan Rakitic and Marc-André ter Stegen are expected to make way for Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, Marc Bartra and Claudio Bravo in the Blaugrana first team.
Speaking to the media ahead of Barcelona’s clash with Valencia, manager Luis Enrique shed some light on the mental state of his squad. “The players are fine, they’re fully recovered,” said Enrique (as reported by the club’s official website). “Of course the disappointment has been hard to swallow, but they’re professionals. There’s still a lot to look forward to. Not many teams can say that they have won the league and cup double two years in a row.
“As far as I’m concerned, the last few games are in the past. We analyse every game, the defeats as well as the wins. There are a lot of factors involved in explaining why a team wins or loses. It would be foolish to draw conclusions at this stage when there are six league games and a cup final still to go.
“There’s a world ahead of us – six league games. We need to perform well, avoid making mistakes, be effective and play good football. This is not our best spell of the season, and we just have to accept that.”
Thomas Vermaelen, Jeremy Mathieu and Rafinha are unavailable for selection on account of their respective injuries.