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On Saturday FC Barcelona travel to Madrid to take on Getafe, who had a convincing 1-4 victory over Racing Santander in first week action. Getafe, under new manager Michel, look to improve on a dismal 2008/2009 season which saw them barely escape relegation. For FC Barcelona they cannot take Michel’s team lightly. With a great performance in week one by Soldado, collecting a hat-trick, Barcelona’s defense will have to be on their toes. Recently the blaugrana have not had an easy go with the Azulones having only won two of the last six head to head match-ups.
Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has his work cut out for him with many players just coming back from international duty. In a press conference today, Guardiola spoke about the “reported” state of Lionel Messi for Saturday’s match following Argentina’s struggles last week in international qualifiers and the possibility of the team not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Guardiola addressed those questions saying, “he (Messi) is sad, but like any player, when you lose it affects you. The drama will not affect him. Leo has millions of virtues but the strongest is his mental strength.”
The good news on the Barcelona front is that Andres Iniesta will make his return after a lengthy battle recovering from a leg injury. If Iniesta makes it into the match it would be his first action since the Champions League Final against Manchester United.
Another addition to the squad will be newly acquired center back Dmytro Chygrynskiy. Chygrynskiy has only practiced a few times with the squad and it is not known if Guardiola will have enough confidence in the Ukranian to give him the nod.
It was reported earlier in the week that Rafa Marquez would be returning to the squad for Saturday but after receiving medical clearance on Thursday, Guardiola has decided to not include him in the 18 man roster.
The 18 players available for Saturday’s match are: Valdes, Pinto, Abidal, Pique, Maxwell, Puyol, Alves, Toure, Txigrinski, Busquets, Keita, Jeffren, Xavi, Iniesta, Henry, Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Messi.
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