PREVIEW | UD Las Palmas v FC Barcelona

After Liga frontrunners Real Madrid and Girona both won on Wednesday, the pressure is now on FC Barcelona to do likewise in their first fixture of 2024 (Thursday, 9.30pm CET) and thus prevent the gap between themselves and the top of the table from getting any wider than the seven points that it was at the start of this week.

The challenge is a trip of over 2,000km to the Canary Islands, where they'll be greeted by warm temperatures and a Unión Deportiva Las Palmas that has impressed in their first season of Liga football for half a decade. They're also a side whose manager, Francisco Javier García Pimienta, knows all about FC Barcelona, for before taking his current job he had spent his entire coaching career at the club, including three years at the helm of Barça B.

There are some familiar faces in the playing staff too, with all of Sandro Ramírez, Mika Mármol, Munir El Haddadi and Marc Cardona having a blaugrana past.

After a slow start to the season, the islanders managed to find their form, and have been gradually moving up the league table, going into the new year in ninth place. That has much to do with their strong form at the Estadio Gran Canaria, where so far only Rayo Vallecano have managed to emerge victorious in 2023-24. Atletico Madrid already know what it's like to lose in Las Palmas, but it's comforting to remember that Barça have yet to lose on the road this league season.

How it stands

This is yet another massive fixture for Barça, who can't really afford to be heading back to the mainland with anything less than the full set of three points, especially given the results on Wednesday night. Real Madrid huffed and puffed their way through their game with Mallorca but eventually snatched the win with an Antonio Rüdiger goal on 78 minutes.

After that, Girona and Atlético Madrid delivered a classic. The Catalans built up a 3-1 lead, but Álvaro Morata completed a hat-trick to get things to 3-3. From there on, Atlético were probably the better looking team, but Iván Martín's injury time goal won it for Girona.

It means that there are now ten points between the front pair and Barça, but a win in Las Palmas would bring that back down to seven. Yes, this game is going to be huge. 

Team news

Another of the attractions today is the possibility of Brazilian striker Vitor Roque making his debut. A lot has been said about the 18-year-old signing from Athletico Paranaense, and now we will finally get to see what he can do in his first ever game of European football. Xavi has said, however, that he doesn't want to be put too much pressure on the youngster, and would rather make his introduction more gradual.

This is a match that Canary Islander Pedri would have loved to play, against his former club, but sadly he misses out through injury. Marc-Andre ter Stegen remains unavailable so Iñaki Peña again takes the German's place between the sticks, while Marcos Alonso underwent back surgery this week and Gavi is also sidelined.

On the plus side, Inigo Martinez is very much on the mend and was able to train normally this week. However, he has not been included in the squad, although Xavi reckons he should be OK for the cup game with Barbastro on Sunday.

As for the opposition, Mexican international Julián Araujo, officially a Barça player but spending his first season on loan to Las Palmas, will not be able to play this game due to a clause in his contract preventing him from facing his parent club. The home side are also missing the injured Álvaro Lemos, and there are question marks regarding the fitness of Fabio González and Alberto Moleiro.

Last time we met

This will be Barça's first visit to Las Palmas since March 2018, during that glorious season under Ernesto Valverde when the team very nearly got through the whole league without a single defeat. A fantastic Leo Messi free kick meant Barça led 1-0 at the break, but his fellow Argentinian Jonathan Calleri levelled up from the spot and it ended 1-1. After 26 games, it was only the sixth time that Barça had drawn and they still hadn't lost a single game! 

Did you know?

Whether at Las Palmas' current ground or at the old Estadio Insular, Barça don't have a brilliant record in this fixture, having only won on 12 of their previous 34 visits. That said, Las Palmas were a much stronger force back in their heyday of the mid-to-late 20th century, when just getting to Gran Canaria was quite an arduous expedition, and in the six league games Barça have played there since 1986, they haven't lost once. However, Las Palmas did win 1-0 in the first leg of a Copa del Rey encounter in 1991, although the Catalans bounced back with a 6-0 rout at Camp Nou in the return.

The chances are this won't be a high-scoring game. With just 15 goals, Las Palmas have scored fewer times than anyone else in La Liga. But they compensate for that with some strong defending. Only Real Madrid have conceded fewer goals than the islanders this season.

Las Palmas keeper Álvaro Vallés is ranked second in La Liga for saves made this season, an impressive 68, while he has the highest save percentage (81.7%). And Catalan defender Sergi Cardona (not to be confused with team-mate Marc Cardona) is third for recoveries, having won back 29 balls this campaign.

And watch out for long shots. The six goals that Las Palmas have netted from outside the box this season is a tally only matched by Sevilla.

Xavi says

Coach Xavi Hernández said on Wednesday that "Las Palmas is a very difficult road trip. Girona aside, they are the surprise package of the season. They play good football and have a great coach."

"García Pimienta is doing a really good job. I am very fond of him, we played together for the Barça reserves. His team plays nice attacking football and plays the ball around like we do. I expect the game to be a fight for possession.”