The Catalans have been in fine form of recent after securing wins in their last 9 matches in all competitions. They will be looking to make it a 10th successive victory by securing all three points against Villarreal in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi final clash at the Camp Nou.
This fixture came just 10 days after both sides last meeting, with the Blaugranas having the last laugh as goals from Neymar, Rafinha and Messi snatched all three points after cancelling out Cheryshev and Vietto’s goal.
Villarreal on the other side are also on a good run of form with the loss against Barcelona being their only loss in 19 consecutive matches.
With the trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar all proving deadly to opponents backline of recent, Barcelona are favourites to clinch the tie. The magesterial trident all got on the scoresheet in Barca’s recent 5-2 mauling of Athletic Bilbao in the Liga at San Mames.
Prior to this game, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has warned against complacency but praised the team and wants them to improve despite being the most in-form team in spain.
“There haven’t been any new players or a new coach to work with the group. We found our rhythm and the evolution is positive. I think we can still improve our level.” Lucho said.
Martin Montoya may miss the tie with Injury issues. Both Mascherano and Iniesta were rested in Sundays Liga victory thereby giving them more liscence to start.
Lucho may also include Marc Bartra and Rafinha Alcantara in the starting line up if he opts to use fresh players. However, the availability of MSN is unquestionable as the trident will surely start the game unless Lucho wants to try something differently new.
Date: 11 February, 2015
Time: 8:00pm CET
Venue: Estadio Camp Nou, Barcelona.
Barcelona Form: WWWWW
Barcelona Possible Line up: Ter Stegen; Alves, Pique, Bartra, Alba; Rafinha, Mascherano, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar.
Villarreal Form: WLWWW
Villarreal Possible Line Up: Asenjo; Gasper, Mussachio, Costa, Ruiz; J. Dos Santos, Pina, Bruno, Cheryshev; Vietto, G. Dos Santos.
FlyBarca Prediction
Barcelona 3-1 Villarreal.
This post was last modified on December 14, 2018 9:55 am
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