Barcelona could play 8 games in the space of 24 days

Luis Enrique was a box-to-box midfielder who could run his socks off all day long. As a captain he demanded the same from his teammates, and as a coach he is no different – instilling in his players the importance of physical fitness. Ever since his first day at the Nou Camp, an amazing amount of detail has gone into working out the intricacies of getting the physical balance of his squad right. This does not mean that he makes them work all day, rather – like all good sports physiotherapists will tell you – pays a great deal of attention to the rest days ensuring that his team gets enough appropriate resting periods between games and training sessions.

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This is going to take a massive hit in January when La Liga resumes after the winter break. The imminent fixture list is so congested that Barcelona currently have six confirmed games (two in the Copa Del Rey and four in La Liga) which will take place between January 5^th and January 29^th. If Barcelona were to overcome their Copa Del Rey opponents, Athletic Bilbao, then they would be faced with eight games in that span of twenty-four days.

In other words, they would have to play an average of ONE competitive game every THREE days – Messy!

Bilbao have always provided tough competition, but Messi (as ever) has always enjoyed playing against them

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Apart from the Basques in the Cup competition, Barcelona would have to face Villarreal, Las Palmas, Eibar and Real Betis in the league during this time frame.

Given how far away Madrid have pulled in front – they lead by three points with a game in hand – Barcelona will be desperate not to drop any points in the New Year. Considering the pressure that will be mounted on Luis Enrique, he will be gunning for a consecutive Copa del Rey triumph as well, and that means that they simply can not afford to take their pedal off the metal during this congested period.

It is this Catch-22 esque scenario that makes the prospect so intriguing – none of the teams they face will lie down without a fight and at times this season it has appeared that without Messi, Suarez and Iniesta, the Catalans just do not have the stomach for a fight.

This is a challenge that all top teams have to face though – anyone who wants to win everything out there will have to play a LOT of games – and it is how Barcelona deal with this hectic first month of 2017 that will define their season, and maybe even their coach’s future