Barcelona need to end the crisis: this is the starting lineup to face Almeria

The last few weeks have been a nightmare for Barcelona. The qualification to the Champions League round of 16 as leaders of group H was not enough to silence the criticism from fans and press, dissatisfied with the team's performances and results. The defeats against Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp in the European tournament were unexpected, although they did not have serious consequences. The problem is in La Liga.

There Los Blaugranas lost the 'Clasico' against Real Madrid and then against leaders Girona, which prevented them from getting closer to the top of the standings. And the draw against Valencia last weekend made things worse. They are now in fourth place with 35 points, 9 behind Girona and 7 behind Real Madrid.

Boss Xavi Hernandez knows that they no longer have margin for error and that if they want to keep their hopes of competing for the Spanish league title, they have to win almost every game until the end of the season. The first of these will be this Wednesday at the Estadio Olimpico Lluis Companys in Montjuic against Almeria, one of the weakest teams in the tournament.

Barcelona's starting lineup will be: Iñaki Peña; Joao Cancelo, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Alejandro Balde; Sergi Roberto, Ilkay Gundogan, Fermin Lopez; Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Joao Felix. Also on the bench will be Diego Kochen, Ander Astralaga, Jules Kounde, Hector Fort, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Casado, Pau Prim, Unai Hernandez, Oriol Romeu, Ferran Torres, Marc Guiu and Lamine Yamal.

They also have urgencies

Almeria are at the bottom of the La Liga standings with only 5 points. That is why they need to get good results that will allow them to get out of the relegation zone, a difficult goal as they are currently 9 points away from achieving it. Coach Gaizka Garitano chose this XI: Luis Maximiano; Alejandro Pozo, Juan Brandariz, Cesar Montes, Edgar Gonzalez; Sergio Akieme, Sergio Arribas, Dion Lopy, Iddrisu Baba; Largie Ramazani, Leo Baptistao.