After leaving victorious from the Turkish hell with a 1-4 win against Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League, FC Barcelona will face another tough fixture away when they play Real Betis Balompié at La Cartuja on Matchday 9 of LaLiga, where they are leaders with 24 points out of a possible 24, this Saturday at 6.30pm CEST.
Saying that this game will be difficult is not an exaggeration at all: the verdiblancos are third on the table, with the same amount of points (19) as the second-placed, Atlético de Madrid, and one more than Real Madrid, whom they already beat in Seville on Matchday 4. On top of that, they won their last match on Wednesday in the Andalusian capital against FC Porto in Champions League's League Phase, where they have won their 2 first matches so far, like Barça.
Before this clash, the second of a three-match streak on the road (Paris Saint-Germain will be the next hosts on Tuesday), the Blaugrana Wünderteam got the news about a couple of players that are finally able to play again: on the one hand, Frenkie de Jong got the green light to play his first minutes of the season when Hansi Flick finds an appropiate moment to send him onto the pitch; on the other hand, Raphinha, the team's captain and MVP of La Liga in both August and September, comes back after the international break, although the German coach said that "he needs to take it step by step", thereby he is unlikely to play from the start.
Staying with the starting line-up, considering the intensity of the calendar and the players' fantastic level, it would not be surprising to see some changes compared to what we saw in Istanbul or what is to come in Paris. How will this encounter go? We can only wait until the opening whistle.