Who: Barcelona vs. Villareal
What: Spain’s La Liga
Where: Estadio de la Ceramica in Villareal, Spain
When: Sunday, December 21, at 4:15pm (15:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 1215 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream. Click here to follow our live coverage.
Throughout the majority of La Liga, Villarreal has quietly launched a potential dark horse title campaign.
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When the “Yellow Submarine” host Barcelona on Sunday, it will now have a chance to make it official.
A game that could open the Spanish top flight is examined by Al Jazeera Sport.
What form has Villareal played this season in La Liga?
The third-place team under the guidance of Marcelino Garcia Toral is eight points ahead of Real Madrid and eight points ahead of Barcelona. Its position could be even stronger because it has only two games to play against the powerhouses.
Villarreal lost to a lower-division team this week and has disappointed in the Champions League. However, La Liga is a different game. Only two of Villarreal’s six games have ended in defeat at Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
In addition to being unbeaten in eight home games while capturing all but one of those league matches, Marcelino’s men have also transformed their La Ceramica stadium into a fortress.
What form has Barcelona taken this year in La Liga?
With 13 goals allowed in 17 games, the league’s top defense will square off against Villarreal’s strongest attack. In that span, Barcelona scored 49 goals, 15 more than Real’s closest rivals, and more than made up for a sometimes shaky defense by outscoring its opponents.
Barcelona will look to end 2025 on a high note this weekend and overshadow any challenges presented by Villarreal.
A struggling Madrid side would also be put under more pressure if they won the league for the eighth time in a row, under Lamine Yamal and company.
Before the two-week winter break, Madrid will need a convincing victory to face Sevilla on Saturday.
What transpired during Villareal’s most recent game?
Villareal lost to second-tier Racing de Santander on Wednesday, adding insult to injury from their struggles outside of La Liga this season.
Their most recent La Liga game was against Girona on December 6 with a score of 2-0 at home. Between those two matches, Villareal also lost to Copenhagen in the Champions League 3-2 at home.
What transpired during Barcelona’s most recent game?
Late in the match, Andreas Christensen and Marcus Rashford scored to give Barcelona a close-fought 2-0 victory over third-place Guadalajara on Tuesday.
The Catalans were also held to a maximum by Osasuna in their previous La Liga game, where Raphinha scored twice late in the game to earn a 2-0 victory.
What is the formula behind Villareal’s La Liga success?
Villarreal’s success is based on a team effort that included several goal-scorers and playmakers. However, Alberto Moleiro, a left-winger, excels. He leads Villarreal with six league goals in his debut season with the team. Santi Comesana, a midfielder, and Tajon Buchanan each scored five goals.
What difficulties does Barcelona face in its La Liga defense?
Since Alejandro Balde was sidelined for the duration of the season, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has so far been able to fill the position with a left-back centre-back.
As Flick searches for a replacement for Inigo Martnez, who left for Saudi Arabia earlier in the year, in the middle of the defensive line, Martin has five starts in a row. Villarreal’s attack may put a strain on Martin.
What became of La Liga’s intention to play Villareal-Barcelona in Miami?
Before La Liga’s international expansion plans fell under heavy criticism, forcing the cancellation of what would have been the first European league game to be played abroad, the Sunday showdown was originally intended for Miami.
What transpired during Villareal’s most recent game against Barcelona?
In their final encounter in May, Villareal defeated Barcelona 3-2 to claim the league title, despite the home side having already won it five days prior.
After only four minutes, Ayoze Perez gave the away side a 2-0 lead, but before the break, Yamal and Fermin Lopez turned the tables on Barca. However, Villallareal were not finished until Tajon Buchanan scored the winning goal in the final ten minutes with Santi Comesana leveling in the 50th minute.
What transpired last season in the same match between Villareal and Barcelona?
Barcelona ran amok at Villareal in the first meeting between the two last year, which ended in a 5-1 drubbing.
Both Pedro Torre’s strike and Robert Lewandowski’s netted braces. Perez also had a goal in this game for the home team, but it ended up being a consolation.
Head-to-head
With Barcelona winning 33 of the matches and Villarreal winning 11 of the matches, the teams have met in their 55th meeting.
Villareal have won both of their previous two matches at Barcelona, but the Catalan club has the same record as Villareal in both of their previous two encounters.
News from the Villareal team
As veterans Gerard Moreno and Dani Parejo resumed training on Tuesday and should be ready to face Barcelona, Villarreal , experienced a timely boost.
Senegal and Pape Gueye are traveling to the Africa Cup of Nations, respectively.
Thomas Partey, Gerard Moreno, Willy Kambwala, and Santiago Mourino must all demonstrate their fitness before the game while Pau Cabanes is a certain injury absentee.
news from the Barcelona team
Ronald Araujo is expected to miss the game for personal reasons, while Dani Olmo and Gavi are both injured.
Due to a calf strain, Pedri was a major doubt for the match on Friday during his absence from training.
Villareal lineup that is anticipated
Luiz Junior, Navarro, Foyth, Veiga, Cardona, Buchanan, Comesana, Parejo, Moleiro, Perez, Mikautadze, and others
Barcelona lineup anticipated
Source: Aljazeera
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