Barcelona will be looking to return to winning ways in La Liga when they welcome Villarreal to Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
The Spanish champions suffered a 2-0 loss at Granada on Saturday night to stay in the eighth position in the table – one spot and one point behind Villarreal, who have made a solid start to the 2019-20 campaign.
Barca’s loss at Granada on Saturday means that the Spanish champions have made their worst start to a league season for 25 years – Ramon Azeez and Alvaro Vadillo scored the goals for the home side, and it is difficult to argue against the final result as Ernesto Valverde’s side were desperately poor on the night.
Not only have Barca taken just one point from their three away games this season, but they have also failed to win any of their past seven matches on their travels in all competitions, which will be a serious concern at this stage.
On the other hand, two wins, two draws and one defeat – that is how Villarreal have performed in their opening five league games of the season. A total of eight points has left them in the seventh position in the table, while they are the joint-leading scorers in the division alongside Barca with 12 goals to show for their troubles.
Head To Head
As mentioned above, the two teams played out a 4-4 draw in their last clash back in April, with Messi and Luis Suarez scoring late to see Barca claim a point on their travels.
Barca have won each of the last eight La Liga meetings between the two sides at Camp Nou, though, including a 2-0 victory in the corresponding game during the 2018-19 campaign.
Villarreal’s last La Liga success at Camp Nou was back in March 2008 when former Denmark international Jon Dahl Tomasson scored the winner against a Barca side that included the likes of Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto’o.
Possible Line Ups
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Semedo; Arthur, Busquets, De Jong; Messi, L Suarez, Griezmann
Villarreal: Asenjo; Quintilla, Torres, Albiol, Pena; Iborra, Cazorla, Gomez; Chukwueze, Moreno, Ekambi