Barça/Tenerife

After a disappointing game during the week in the Copa against Sevilla (albeit with a weakened starting 11) Pep Guardiola will try to use this week's game against Tenerife to increase team moral. The islanders have been generally very poor throughout the season, with the odd result like a draw against Atletico coming more from the Madrid side playing poorly than Tenerife playing well.

On the injury front, Eric Abidal has recovered and is in the squad, but I imagine Maxwell will get the nod ahead of him in anticipation of the return leg with Sevilla during the week, in which Abidal will be vital.

Zlatan will miss the game due to collecting a fifth yellow card against Villareal.

Pedro will therefore get a chance to play against the team he supported as a boy. Hopefully he will not allow such emotions to have an impact on his game in a negative manor. In light of suspensions and the game in midweek, I expect we will lineup as follows:

---------------Valdes--------------

Alves---Puyol--Pique--Maxwell

------------Busquets---------------

-----Xavi--------------Iniesta------

Pedro------Henry------Messi-----

The performance of Marquez in the holding midfield role during the week left a lot to be desired, so I see no reason for Busquets to be missing from the starting 11. Likewise, another poor game from Chygrynsky means the obvious choice for Pep would be our strongest back two of Puyol and Pique. Alves more or less picks himself when available, and Abidal is recovering for an injury as I alluded to earlier.

Henry and Messi are interchangeable, and I expect them to swap roles throughout the game. Hopefully Henry can put in an equally impressive performance tonight as he did against Villareal, as this is a vital time in the season where our squad is stretched thin. Players need to rise to the challenge and help the team, especially big ones like Titi.

As for the score? I expect nothing but a win, and I also think we'll keep a clean sheet. I'll go for 3-0 Barça (though sometimes when I guess these scores I still think in terms of last season, so 2-0 may be a more accurate outcome).

Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya!