The standout fixture of the La Liga on Sunday takes place between Villarreal and Barcelona. The latter team is sixth in the standings with four points after its first two games of the season. Villarreal is in tenth place with three points.
Preview (Villarreal vs. Barcelona)
On the first weekend of the new season, Villarreal lost 2-1 to Real Betis at home. They were able to turn things around last time out against Mallorca. In Palma, Gerard Moreno’s goal in the 62nd minute proved to be the deciding factor between the two teams. Villarreal is now unbeaten to start the new campaign. It’s too early to draw too many conclusions from the league standings. They now hold 10th place with three points, one point behind Barcelona. The team led by Quique Setien placed fifth in La Liga last year. They qualified to play in the Europa League group stage this year.
There is still work to be done for Villarreal to qualify for the Champions League. They were seven points off Real Sociedad for fourth place in the table in 2022–23. However, the summer transfer window has been quite successful, as seven new players have joined the team to strengthen it. On August 13, Xavi’s team drew 0-0 with Getafe to open their La Liga season. However, they managed to win their most recent match, defeating Cadiz 2-0 at Camp Nou thanks to goals from Pedri and Ferran Torres.
Following the departure of Ousmane Dembele, Pedri has subsequently joined Ronald Araujo on the sidelines. Thus leaving the squad without two crucial players early in the season. Robert Lewandowski is capable of producing good numbers, but there is so much pressure on him to score. This will be a very difficult test for the champions, despite Barcelona’s stellar record versus Villarreal, who have another challenging match to Osasuna before the break.
Team News
Alberto Moreno and Francis Coquelin will be missing for Villarreal once more, and Jeremy Pino is still a big question mark for the home team. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the same starting lineup today as it did against Mallorca because head coach Setien will have been pleased with what he saw. Ben Brereton Diaz had the opportunity to start last time because Pino was out, and he will fight to keep it in the final third alongside Alexander Sorloth and Gerard Moreno.
Although it’s likely that both players will be on the bench at the start of the game, Denis Suarez and Ilias Akhomach will be motivated to participate in some way against their old team. Raphinha, meanwhile, will once more be unavailable for Barcelona as he serves the second game of a two-game suspension following his red card against Getafe. Araujo is out with a hamstring issue, and Pedri has a thigh problem. Both players will be out until the beginning of October. Martinez is also out due to a foot ailment, but La Liga has not yet registered him.
Lamine Yamal, 16, may continue to play for Barcelona in a 3-4-3 configuration, and Torres, who scored off the bench against Cadiz, may take Pedri’s position. Barcelona struggled against Getafe on the first weekend of the season, and this match could be particularly challenging for Xavi’s team. Villarreal has a lot of talent on the field, therefore we are actually betting on a game that ends in a tense tie on Sunday.
Villareal 2 – 2 Barcelona
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