Barcelona vs Mallorca. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

FC Barcelona will host RCD Mallorca in the La Liga 28th-round match at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. The fixture will take place on Saturday, March 9, beginning at 01:30 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Barcelona News & Current Form: 

Last weekend, Barcelona had the opportunity to regain 2nd place in the standings when they faced Athletic Bilbao at San Mames, but failed to crack the intense defense of the Basques and ended up with a goalless draw (0:0).  For an away match, and even more so in Bilbao, it is quite an acceptable result, but in terms of content it was a real nightmare.

In addition, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri left the squad in Bilbao, the former injured ankle ligaments, the latter – thigh muscles. The Dutch midfielder is out for three to four weeks, the Spaniard will return by the second half of April. And this is only in the best case scenario: there is also a possibility that the midfielder will not appear on the pitch again this season.

The Catalans have suffered two defeats at home in their last 10 matches, and the stretch of the last five rounds has the most points in La Liga (11). As a result, Barca remain in 3rd position in the Spanish league, 8 points behind Real Madrid CF, who the previous day lost in Valencia (2:2). 

The Catalans have a seven-match unbeaten streak. That is, they have not had a single defeat since Xavi announced that he would leave the team after the end of the season. However, in this stretch the Blue and Granates have only four wins, including triumphs over Getafe CF (4:0) and Deportivo Alaves (1:3) at the end of February. We should not forget about the 1:1 draw with SSC Napoli in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League 1/8 final, because next week Xavi’s men will face the return leg.

Coach Xavi announced that he will leave FC Barcelona at the end of current season

The Catalans score at the level of the leader of the national championship — 56 goals, and share the first line with Real Madrid. Well, the defense of Barça is not so flawless – 34 goals conceded, this is the indicator of teams from the middle of the standings.

Robert Lewandowski is the leading scorer for the team. The Pole has scored 18 goals in 36 matches (4 on penalties), the second line is occupied by Ferran Torres with 11 goals in 32 matches, the third place is occupied by Joao Felix with 8 goals in 31 matches.

Still unavailable are Gavi, Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso. Finally, central defender Ronaldo Araujo (he is being wooed to FC Bayern Munich next summer) will be disqualified for over yellow cards. 

Mallorca News & Current Form: 

Despite a poor season, Mallorca reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time in 21 years and will face Athletic Bilbao. The Pirates, not without difficulty, defeated Girona FC in the quarterfinals (3:2), and then in the semifinals knocked out Real Sociedad CF — participant of the Champions League playoffs. 

Top bombardier of RCD Mallorca – Abdon Prats – with 11 goals scored

At home against Sociedad, the Red and Blacks scored in the fourth minute, but after half an hour the team of Arsen Zakharyan equalized, and just before the final whistle scored the decisive goal – in the third added minute.

Last weekend, in the euphoria of their victory over the Basques, a team from the island again beat Girona without conceding a single goal (1:0), a victory that came after a 1:1 draw with Alaves a week earlier. 

First-half effort by Jose Copete was enough for Aguirre’s side to pick up their 27th point in 27 rounds and move up to 15th in the standings. The yellow-orange are eight points ahead of the relegation zone and just two points behind Alaves, who are 13th. 

While Barça have the league’s second best attack (56 goals), Mallorca are strong in defense. 34 goals conceded is nothing for an outsider, and in the last 5 matches Aguirre’s team has conceded a goal per 90 minutes. It is not easy to break through. 

Top scorer Abdon Prats has 11 goals (3 from PK) in 30 games played, Cyle Larin with six goals in 31 games is in second place, and in third place is Vedat Muriqi with five goals (1 of them from the penalty kick) in 22 games.

It is important to note that the team is experiencing difficulties on the road, having collected only eight points in 13 meetings outside the home walls, which is the fourth worst indicator in the division. Only the right midfielder Pablo Maffeo (injury) will remain in the club’s infirmary, while Omar Mascarell is disqualified for having too many yellow cards. 

Barcelona form guide: W-D-W-D-W-D

Mallorca form guide: D-W-L-D-D-W

Barcelona vs Mallorca Head-To-Head Record:

• October 1, 2022: Mallorca 0 – 1 Barcelona (La Liga);
• May 28, 2023: Barcelona 3 – 0 Mallorca (La Liga);
• September 26, 2023: Mallorca 2 – 2 Barcelona (La Liga).

Barcelona vs Mallorca Predicted XI:

Barcelona’s possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Cancelo; Gundogan, Christensen, F Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha.

Mallorca’s possible starting lineup (5-3-2): Rajkovic; Gonzalez, Valjent, Raillo, Copete, Lato; A Sanchez, S Costa, D Rodriguez; Muriqi, Larin.

Statistical preview of the match Barcelona vs Mallorca:

• Barcelona’s First XI average age is 26.9 years, Mallorca’s First XI average age is 29.4 years.
• The total value of Barcelona’s squad is 863 mln euros, while the total of Mallorca comes up to 90 mln euros.
• Javier Iglesias Villanueva has been appointed as the center referee. The referee has already served 14 games this season, showing an average of 4.5 Yellow Cards and also whistles 23 fouls per game. 

• Barcelona have not lost in seven of their last seven matches and have won four of their last five matches against Mallorca.
• Nine of the last 12 matches involving Barcelona have seen at least three goals scored and at least ten corner kicks taken. 
• Barcelona have an xG of 2.4 during home matches, while Mallorca have only 1.35 away.
• Barcelona players break the rules 11.29 times on average and Mallorca players foul 16.31 times.
• Barcelona players are caught offside 2.29 times a game and Mallorca players are offside 2.23 times.
• During home matches Barcelona scored 2.29 goals, while Mallorca conceded an average of 1.69 goals.
• Barcelona average 7.07 corner kicks during home matches and the overall average total is 10.29. 
• 2.21 yellow cards on average are received by Barcelona players during home matches and 2.77 cards are received by Mallorca players away. 
• Barcelona have won 10 of their 14 home games in the current La Liga season.
• Mallorca have so far won only one away win in the Spanish championship, with five more draws recorded in five cases.

What has been said before the match:

Gaffer of Barca Xavi about facing Napoli in the Champions League and Mallorca in La Liga:

“We certainly missed out on an opportunity at San Mamés but now we have another chance to move closer to the top, albeit provisionally. We can’t afford to take our minds off it and only focus on the Champions League and Napoli. I’d do just the same if we had a league game to come. We need to consider fatigue and the number of games the players are facing.”

“Mallorca are a solid team that plays well together and is physically strong. They’re having a good season and I imagine we’ll be facing a team that will play defensively but whose morale is high. Javier Aguirre works very hard on getting the best out of his teams, I’m an admirer of his. We will make some changes tomorrow. We are thinking about the fatigue factor and the accumulation of minutes.”

Barcelona vs Mallorca Prediction:

Mallorca have shown remarkable defensive prowess in recent matches. Meanwhile, Barça’s ability to dictate their football to opponents of this kind has been undermined by injuries to their key midfielders. Yet, it’s unlikely that the Catalans will fail to win a home match against a fairly comfortable opponent who is significantly inferior in class. The Pirates mainly pick up points at home, while on the road they have managed to take only 8 points in 13 league games. In addition, the motivation and objectives of the teams are different. The Vermilions are not in any danger of getting into the relegation zone having a 8-point gap to 18th place. And staying in La Liga is the main objective for Mallorca, so there’s no use to spend all the energies against one of the strongest teams in the Spanish Primera in the away game. The Catalans are chasing the leading Real Madrid, and on home soil they have no right to lose points against a mid-table side. 

The game is unlikely to be goalless, the Blaugrana have scored an average of 2.28 goals per 90 minutes at home in La Liga, and even pragmatic defensive football from Javier Aguirre’s men is unlikely to be an obstacle for the Catalans. In their first head-to-head outing this season, the opponents had produced a total of four goals. The current form of Mallorca hints that they are quite capable of finding vulnerabilities in Barça’s game and punishing them on counters. But there is no doubt that the hosts will not go without a goal either, while achieving the result they need. 

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Barcelona will win and the match total will be over 1.5 – Yes. 

Don`t miss out 👉: Top 5 Teams with Most Test Series Wins at Home Consecutively