Match Preview
Barcelona host Villarreal on Saturday in a key sport within the LaLiga title race that carries extra hazard than most would assume.
The Blaugrana maintain a slender one-point lead over Actual Madrid, having bounced again from defeat at Girona with a 3-0 win over Levante, however face a Villarreal facet sitting third within the desk and boasting a wonderful latest report in away video games with Barca.
Certainly, Villarreal have claimed victory in every of the previous two seasons at Barcelona, although each of these video games had been performed on the Olympic Stadium reasonably than the revamped Camp Nou.
The sport marks Hansi Flick’s one centesimal match answerable for Barca, along with his tenure already seeing them win a LaLiga and Copa del Rey double and two Supercopa de Espana titles.
Flick will naturally be determined to make sure he marks that milestone with a victory, with Barca having little room for a slip-up forward of Madrid’s conflict with Getafe on Monday.
Barca received the reverse fixture 2-0 due to a Raphinha penalty and a purpose from Lamine Yamal in a sport during which Villarreal had been decreased to 10 males.
However Flick is aware of that counts for nothing as Barca goal to cease the Yellow Submarine from producing one other shock.
“If we recall the final match in Villarreal, we had a little bit of luck,” Flick advised his pre-match press convention.
“They’d excellent transitions, we mustn’t make pointless errors and we’ve got to play in our model.”
Villarreal’s misfortune of their earlier defeat continues to be recent within the thoughts of coach Marcelino, although he acknowledges the chances are towards them getting revenge.
“We are going to attempt to not give away doubtful penalties,” Marcelino mentioned.
“We performed with 10 males and conceded a doubtful penalty. There have been fouls like that, and nobody has been despatched off.
“They’ve received 12 out of 12 video games at dwelling. They rating a median of three objectives. We’re going there with the hope of successful and reversing their beneficial outcomes.
“It’s one sport. 90 minutes and something can occur. If we play at our greatest, we’ll have an opportunity of successful.
“You additionally want luck to beat the massive groups and this season we haven’t had it. There have been conditions that haven’t gone our approach.
“They beat us 0-2, however we performed at a excessive stage. We need to put ahead the identical arguments, however with extra luck.”
Workforce information for Barcelona v Villarreal
Frenkie de Jong faces a number of weeks on the sidelines for Barcelona with a hamstring damage.
Gavi and Andreas Christensen are nonetheless out as they get well from long-term knee points. Gerard Martin is suspended.
For Villarreal, Willy Kambwala (hamstring), Logan Costa (knee), Pau Cabanes (knee) and Juan Foyth (knee) are all unavailable.
Gerard Moreno (thigh) and Pape Gueye (thigh) might want to come by way of late health assessments if they’re to function.
Predicted line-ups for Barcelona v Villarreal
Barcelona: J Garcia; Kounde, Cubarsi, E Garcia, Cancelo; Bernal, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Villarreal: Luiz Junior; Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Pedraza; Pepe, Comesana, Gueye, Moleiro; Mikautadze, Perez
The best way to watch Barcelona v Villarreal: TV and on-line stream
Barcelona v Villarreal kicks off at 3:15 pm UK time on Saturday. It won’t be broadcast on UK TV.
The sport is out there to stream by way of Premier Sports activities Participant and LaLiga TV (subscriptions required for each).
Bet365 clients with funds of their account can stream the sport by way of the bet365 app and the web site.
Stats for Barcelona v Villarreal
- The final two Barcelona dwelling video games towards Villarreal produced a complete of 13 objectives, with the away facet successful each.
- Three of the final 4 video games on this fixture have been received by Villarreal, although solely two occurred at Camp Nou.
- Solely Kylian Mbappe (27) has registered extra LaLiga purpose involvements than Lamine Yamal (19) this season.
- Villarreal duo Alberto Moleiro (13) and Georges Mikautadze (12) have mixed for 25 purpose involvements in LaLiga.
- Barca striker Robert Lewandowski has 5 objectives towards Villarreal since becoming a member of the Blaugrana in 2022.
Prediction
Barcelona
2
–
1
Villarreal
Having acquired again to successful methods, this will likely be one other stern take a look at for Barca. Nonetheless, at dwelling and with their benefit in firepower, it’s one they need to come by way of.
