Barcelona visits La Cerámica, with the aim of reaffirming its leadership and opening up more space in the League. Xavi’s men have a golden opportunity to get 11 points ahead of Real Madrid, the whites with one game less. In front of them they will have the Villarreal of the ex-Blaugrana coach Quique Setién, who does not want to lose his place in the European zone after having lost in their last two games.
Xavi’s main casualties are Busquets and Dembélé, both injured. The Frenchman’s position is covered by Raphinha, as he has already done in recent games. Ansu Fati continues to start from the bench in his most difficult week in which his future has been questioned. It should be remembered that Villarreal is the rival that Fati is best at. It is the team in the League that has scored the most goals.
The loss of Busquets, indisputable for Xavi, forces the Barça coach to decide on a double pivot with Frenkie de Jong and Pedri, Kessié as midfielder and Gavi as link to achieve superiority in midfield. Kessié was chosen after his good performance against Sevilla where he assisted Jordi Alba in the 1-0 draw.
In defense he repeats his reliability at the back with the Koundé-Araújo-Christensen hat-trick while Balde is once again a starter on the left-back after his substitution against Sevilla due to a feverish process. Jordi Alba starts again from the bench.
The FC Barcelona eleven: Ter Stegen; Kound, Thunder, Christensen, Bucket; Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Kessie, Gavi; Raphinha and Lewandowski.
Villarreal wants to avoid adding three defeats and for this they will have the support of La Cerámica, after hanging the no tickets sign. However, he will have to put an end to his terrible streak in visits to the Catalan team, since he has been thirteen seasons without being able to defeat him.
For this match, the coach Quique Setién will finally have the significant loss of striker Gerard Moreno, since although the coach wanted to hurry up until the last minute, it was the footballer who ruled himself out and decided to stop for a few days due to his calf discomfort. left. His place in the starting eleven will be occupied by José Luís Morales.
To complete the call, the coach has summoned the players from the subsidiary Fer Niño, Ramon Terrats and the goalkeeper Iker Álvarez, given the usual casualties of the injured Gio Lo Celso, Alfonso Pedraza and Nico Jackson, who are still out due to long-term injuries .
Villarreal’s eleven: Reina; Foyth, Albiol, Pau Torres, Alberto Moreno; Parejo, Baena, Capoue, Coquelin; Yeremy and Morales.
