La Liga
Villarreal vs Barcelona Preview
- Date: Apr. 2, 2019
- Time: 3:30 p.m. (est)
- Network: beIn Sports
- Location: Villarreal, Spain
- Venue: Estadio de la Cerámica
- Seating Capacity: 23,500
Barcelona travels to Estadio de la Cerámica to keep their streak going against Villarreal on Tuesday night.
Barcelona are coming off a 2-0 win against Espanyol which saw an splendid Lionel Messi scoring a pair.
Nevertheless, a win would eventually keep them 10 points ahead of Atlético de Madrid supposing that they win as they play first on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Submarine is in desperate win for a win to fight relegation problems.
Unfortunately for Villarreal, they saw how a 0-2 lead over Celta Vigo turned to 3-2 lost.
Nonetheless, Villarreal have advanced to the Europa League quarterfinals after defeating Zenit in the round of 16.
Team News
Ernesto Valverde will have available the same squad he had against Espanyol last Saturday. However, Ousmane Demebele, Jasper Cillessen and Rafinha remain out with injuries.
Villarreal have been hit with the injury bug and will wait until game time to determine if Bruno Soriano, Javi Fuego, Jaume Costa and Gerard Moreno are fit to play.
Previous Encounters
Barcelona have won 24 times at Villarreal while the home side has taken eight at home.
Previously, the Blaugrana took the home game at Camp Nou in a 2-0 win.
Predicted Line-Ups
Villarreal starting XI: Asenjo; Alvaro, Bonera, Victor Ruiz; Gaspar, Pedraza, Morlanes; Iborra, Santi Cazorla, Ekambi, Bacca.
Barcelona starting XI: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Umtiti, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Vidal, Busquets, Arthur; Macom, Messi, Coutinho.
Match Prediction
Messi has been in great form for over a month and doesn’t seem to slow down any time soon. Everyone will be expecting Lio to continue his fine form against the Yellow Submarine.
Meanwhile, Villarreal are in survival mode as they are fighting to stay in the top flight of Spain. Despite their recent loss, Villarreal have won four out of their last five matches.
It will be a difficult match for Barcelona. However, they have a far better squad and should be able to handle Villarreal at their camp.
Prediction: Villarreal 1 – 3 Barcelona
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