Barcelona fans have reacted with excitement to news of Joao Felix being named in the starting XI for their match against RCD Mallorca.
The Blaugrana will take on Los Piratas in a La Liga encounter at the Iberostar Stadium on Tuesday, September 26. With Real Madrid not playing until Wednesday, when they will take on Las Palmas, Xavi Hernandez’s side could temporarily go four points clear at the top of the standings.
Barcelona recently released their line-up for the game, with Felix, 23, starting upfront alongside Raphinha and Ferran Torres. Robert Lewandowski has been given a breather and is on their bench.
Confirmation of Felix’s presence in the line-up was welcomed by the Catalans’ fans thanks to the Portuguese’s excellent impact since arriving on loan. They took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their happiness, with one of them writing:
“FELIX STARTS!!!!! TIME TO COOK AGAIN”
Another tweeted with reference to the visitors donning their white away jersey for the game:
“Joao Felix masterclass in the white shirt”
Here are some more fan reactions:
Felix has been a revelation since joining Barcelona on a season-long loan from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day. The attacker has scored and assisted once apiece in three La Liga games. He also netted twice and laid out an assist in their UEFA Champions League opener, a 5-0 home win over Royal Antwerp.
Felix will now hope to continue his good run of form when the Blaugrana take on Mallorca, who are 17th in the table with just five points from six matches. Here is their complete line-up for the match:
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Alejandro Balde, Inigo Martinez, Ronald Araujo, Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan, Oriol Romeu, Pablo Gavi, Joao Felix, Ferran Torres, Raphinha.
Barcelona have an excellent recent record against Mallorca
Barcelona have won each of their last 11 meetings with Mallorca and are unbeaten in their last 14. They last drew with Los Piratas all the way back in 2011 and last suffered defeat against them in 2009.
The two teams clashed twice in La Liga last season. On the first occasion, Xavi Hernandez’s men edged a close contest at the Iberostar Stadium 1-0 thanks to Robert Lewandowski’s 20th-minute goal. The game was a slugfest that saw just six combined shots on target and 22 fouls.
Their second meeting was a much more routine affair for Barcelona, who romped to a 3-0 victory at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Ansu Fati opened the scoring in the very first minute before Mallorca saw Amath Ndiaye sent off in the 14th minute. Fati struck again in the 24th minute before Gavi’s goal 20 minutes before the end of regulation sealed a comprehensive victory for the hosts.
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Edited by Anantaajith Raghuraman