La Liga-BAR VS VIL

                     Schedule 

Match  : Barcelona vs Villareal

Series : La Liga Football

Date & Time : 28th September, 12:30 am (IST)

Venue : Camp Nou, Barcelona

Match Analysis : Barcelona finally kick-off their La Liga campaign by taking on Villareal at the Camp Nou. The past few months can only be described as a whirlwind for Barcelona and their fans. Starting off with missing out on the La Liga title to fierce rivals, Real Madrid, they then went on to get humiliated 8-2 in the Champions League quarter-finals at the hands of Bayern Munich. To make matters worse, their star man, Lionel Messi, openly expressed his displeasure of playing at the club and his rift with the Barcelona board. Despite managing to keep him, Barcelona sold Luis Suarez to Atletico Madrid a couple of days ago. New manager Ronal Koeman has also told their up and coming talent, Riqui Puig to find a new club as his chances at Barcelona are slim. There is an air of toxicity around the club that Villareal will look to take advantage of. Villareal has already played two La Liga games, drawing one at home to Huesca and beating Eibar. They will be in much better shape as they have more minutes under their belt and a lot of match sharpness. Armed with new signings like Daniel Parejo and Pervis Estupinan, they will look to hurt Barcelona and send them deeper down in their misery.

Team News : -

Barcelona

Injury Report, Unavailability: Barcelona will be without their first-choice goalkeeper, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. They will also be without Martin Braithwaite and Samuel Umtiti for this game.
Doubtful: Barcelona does not have any doubtful players.
Expected changes: Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho could be in contention to start after Luis Suarez left the club. Miralem Pjanic could also come in and make his debut to replace the departing Arthuro Vidal. Pedro Neto will replace the injured Ter Stegen in BAR vs VIL 

Villareal

Injury Report, Unavailability: Ruben Pena, Alberto Moreno, Ramiro Guerra and Raul Albiol are set to miss this game with injury troubles.
Doubtful: Villareal has no doubtful players.
Expected changes: New signing, Pervis Estupinan, is set to start at left-back for the club after making the switch from Watford. Ramiro Funes-Mori will come in to replace the injured Raul Albiol at centre-back.

Expected Playing XI : -

BAR Playing 11

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (GK)
Sergi Roberto
Gerard Pique
Clement Lenglet
Jordi Alba
Sergio Busquets
Frenkie de Jong
Miralem Pjanic
Lionel Messi
Antoine Griezmann
Philippe Coutinho

VIL Playing XI :-

Sergio Asenjo (GK)
Mario Gaspar
Ramiro Funes-Mori
Pau Torres
Pervis Estupinan
Samuel Chukwueze
Francis Coquelin
Daniel Parejo
Moi Gomez
Gerard Moreno
Paco Alcacer

Captain Choices :- 

 

Lionel Messi – Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player the world has ever seen and it won’t matter what frame of mind he is in as long as he is on the pitch. His stats don’t need repeating as he is one of those players who defenders dread playing against. He will be a Barcelona player this season and will look to score as many goals as possible to retake their La Liga title from Real Madrid.

Gerard Moreno – This is a little anti-climactic after talking about Lionel Messi, but Gerard Moreno has been Villareal’s best player over their last two matches. With two goals and an assist in two appearances, Moreno’s next target will be Barcelona. He will look to build on his 20 goals 6 assists from last season and power Villareal to the top 4 spots.

Antoine Griezmann – With Luis Suarez gone, the mantle has been passed to Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman has had quite an underwhelming time at the Blaugrana and has failed to live up to his price-tag and reputation with only 9 goals and 4 assists last season. But Villareal will not forget the glorious time he had at Atletico Madrid where he scored 133 goals and it’s only a matter of time before he hits that form again.

Vice Captain Choices :-

Paco Alcacer – After a lucrative time at Borussia Dortmund, Alcacer joined Villareal during the January transfer window. The former Barcelona has scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists in 16 appearances and will look to shatter last season’s numbers during his first full season at the club.

Philippe Coutinho – Philippe Coutinho did not have the same poor 2019/20 season that his Barca teammates had as he was on loan at Bayern Munich where he won the treble. Coutinho also scored 2 goals in 4 minutes against Barcelona in their 8-2 defeat to Bayern. The Brazilian will want to bring the same glory back to the Camp Nou this season and a partnership with Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi looks like a good option for Barcelona.

Dani Parejo – One of the shocks during the transfer window was Villareal bagging the signature of Dani Parejo from local rivals, Valencia, on a free transfer. He has 63 goals and 63 assists for Valencia and has been a mainstay in their midfield for the last 9 years. Being a Real Madrid youth product, Parejo would love to inflict wounds on their rivals, Barcelona when the two sides meet.

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H2H and SL Team