Barcelona don’t often play on Mondays. That’s one of the benefits of being Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, or recently Atlético Madrid – weekends mean more eyes and there are more eyes on the giants, as unfair as it may be.
That said, Barcelona should be the heavy favorites against Huesca regardless of the day of the week. Just in case, the Blaugrana have won their last five games in La Liga on Mondays. The last Monday loss came in January of 1998, a 4-3 nail-biter against Valencia.
Since then, Barcelona has done some winning, and a ton of it recently. Ronald Koeman and his squad have gone 16 games in the league without losing (13 wins, 3 draws). That is the best current unbeaten streak of any team in the five major leagues in Europe.
Huesca, unfortunately, aren’t in the same form, having won only one of their last 20 away matches. They have also conceded at least one goal in their last 10 league matches on the road. Against Barcelona, things get even worse for the team from Aragon who are playing in their second La Liga ever (first was in 2018). In five matches against the Catalans, Huesca has four losses and one draw, including an 8-1 loss in the Copa del Rey in 2014 and an 8-2 loss in La Liga in 2018.
Since they last met, Pacheta took over as manager in January and has his team playing a bit more defensive than when they faced off in the fall. Sitting in 20th place and desperately needing points to avoid the drop, Pacheta is relying heavily on 22-year-old goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez, who was arguably Huesca’s best player in the first meeting. In fact, Fernandez has an argument to be the best young goalkeeper in La Liga this season if not for Unai Simon of Athletic Club.
On the other end of the pitch, Huesca doesn’t get very far without Rafa Mir, the 23-year-old striker on loan from Wolverhampton. Coming up in Valencia’s youth academy, the Spanish forward does know about playing the Catalans, and he almost had a goal a few months ago. He’s been better against other sides, scoring a team-leading seven goals.
The most important player for Huesca though has been playmaker Javi Ontiveros. Without the 23-year-old midfielder and winger, on loan from Villarreal, their chance creation would be at historic lows. He’s the danger man on the scouting report.
Huesca are the underdogs and fighting for their La Liga lives. Barcelona are coming off their largest break of days without a match since the holidays. This would be a match for heavy rotation, but now with Champions League in the rearview mirror, don’t be surprised if the Barcelona boss chooses to give the Madrid sides something to put their eyes on. With a win, the Blaugrana cut the deficit at the top of the table to just four points behind Atlético.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
