La Liga Preview: Barcelona - Racing Santander

Barcelona (2nd, 40pts) v Racing Santander (6th, 32pts)
When: 21:00 CET - Sunday, January 20, 2008
Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Barcelona (2nd, 40pts) v Racing Santander (6th, 32pts)
When: 21:00 CET - Sunday, January 20, 2008
Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Being second in the league for the majority of the campaign and progressing to the latter rounds of the Copa del Rey and the Champions League has not kept Barcelona away from criticism.

After not winning a major honour last season, the spotlight has been on the Catalan club this term and the slightest problem has been magnified and blow out of proportion.

Suddenly, all the players and the coach that helped the club win two consecutive league title and the Champions League are no longer considered good in some quarters.

Four new faces arrived in the summer and expectations rose even higher so the fact that the club did not start the season by winning every game saw the critics begin to circle.

While Real Madrid's effectiveness over attractiveness won them the league last season and has taken them to the top once again this term, suddenly Barça are expected to dampen down their free-flowing game to earn results.

After hampering down and passing through the worst of the storm, Frank Rijkaard and his players appear to be coming out the other side and success in any one of the three competitions that they are in would answer all the problems.

One Defeat

The club's only defeat at home this season came at the hands of Madrid, but all nine other teams to have visited Camp Nou this season have left with nothing.

That statistic combined with the fact that the club have scored 25 times and conceded just five goals at home means that Racing will face a very tough task on Sunday.

But the Cantabrian club are not the same side that they have been for the past few seasons and there will certainly be no relegation worries this term.

Marcelino took over last summer after winning promotion with Recreativo and keeping them in the top half of the table in the first campaign alongside the big boys.

No headlines were made with players being signed in the summer, although some predicted that the team would go backwards after the departure of Nikola Zigic.

Top Six Aim

Instead, the new boss galvanised his team as experienced campaigners like Aldo Duscher, César Navas were brought in Jorge López along with Sergio Sánchez, Ebi Smolarek and Mohammed Smolarek.

Led from the front by the inspirational Pedro Munitis, Racing have lost only once at home this term and have won three and drawn three of their ten away games.

That run has pushed the club into the top six and they are currently five points ahead of Valencia and six above Sevilla.

Since being heavily beaten by Sevilla in the final game before the Christmas break, Racing have begun the New Year in impressive form as they have won four of their five games in 2008.

After winning at Real Mallorca, Marcelino guided his side to the quarter finals of the Copa del Rey and they could be considered to be dark horses to at least reach the final.

RECENT FORM

Barcelona

Match	Result	Date	Championship
Barcelona - Sevilla	0 - 0	15/01/2008	COPA DEL REY
Barcelona - Murcia	4 - 0	12/01/2008	LA LIGA
Sevilla - Barcelona	1 - 1	09/01/2008	COPA DEL REY
Mallorca - Barcelona	0 - 2	05/01/2008	LA LIGA
Barcelona - Real Madrid	0 - 1	23/12/2007	LA LIGA
Valencia - Barcelona	0 - 3	15/12/2007	LA LIGA

Racing Santander

Match	Result	Date	Championship
Racing - Zaragoza	4 - 2	16/01/2008	COPA DEL REY
Osasuna - Racing	0 - 2	13/01/2008	LA LIGA
Zaragoza - Racing	1 - 1	09/01/2008	COPA DEL REY
Racing - Athletic Bilbao	1 - 0	06/01/2008	LA LIGA
Sevilla - Racing	4 - 1	22/12/2007	LA LIGA
Murcia - Racing	2 - 1	16/12/2007	LA LIGA

TEAM NEWS

Barcelona

José Manuel Pinto is set to be included in the squad for the first time after arriving on loan from Celta Vigo as cover for Albert Jorquera. Carles Puyol is expected to recover from the fever that kept him out of training on Friday, but Edmílson and Ronaldinho look set to miss the game, although both are close to returning to action. Lionel Messi is also not yet fully fit and will be asked to wait another week before being given the green light.

Racing Santander

Marcelino has confirmed that he is giving the Copa del Rey game in midweek against Athletic Bilbao priority over the game against Barça and is expected to rotate his side accordingly. Smolarek is has not recovered from a knock and will not be included in the squad that the coach will name on Saturday afternoon.

PREDICTION

Racing will come to defend as have the majority of teams this season at Camp Nou and Barça will have to be sharper than they were against Sevilla in midweek in order to pick up all three points. It will certainly be taxing as the Blaugrana played a full tilt game on Tuesday, but will have enough in the tank to do enough to maintain their pursuit of Madrid.

Barcelona 2 - 0 Racing Santander