Ronald Koeman allows Barcelona to play in the away match against Villarreal in LaLiga on Sunday afternoon with el bloque campeón. The Catalans play with the same eleven footballers who won the 31st Copa del Rey in club history eight days ago at the expense of Athletic Club (0-4 win). That means one change from the competition game of los Azulgrana with Getafe (5-2 win) last Thursday: Sergiño Dest has his starting place back at the expense of Sergi Roberto. The game in the Estadio de la Cerámica in Vila-real starts at 4.15 p.m.
Koeman does not want to be faced with surprises and therefore maintains his 3-5-2 system with the usual names. That means that Marc-André ter Stegen defends the goal and Óscar Mingueza, Gerard Piqué and Clément Lenglet form the three-man defense. Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Pedri are in midfield and the flanks are for Dest and Jordi Alba. Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann are the attackers in the Dutchman’s system.
Compared to the duel with Getafe, Koeman again has access to Ousmane Dembélé if the match does not go as desired or the attack needs to be provided with more speed. The attacker has recovered from pubic bone complaints. Trincao made little impression as a substitute last Thursday and due to the absence of the still injured Martin Braithwaite, Dembélé is the right person to provide new impetus as a substitute.
Miralem Pjanic is missing his right knee due to complaints, while goalkeeper Neto makes his return to the match selection. This is at the expense of Iñaki Peña, who, just like Konrad de la Fuente, reported to Barcelona B. Neto and Arnau Tenas are the reserve keepers. The injured Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho are logically not in the match selection either.
Unbeaten for thirteen matches in a row
Barcelona last lost an away match against Villarreal in 2007/08 (!). Under the leadership of Frank Rijkaard, the Catalans lost 3-1; Marcos Senna (twice) and Santi Cazorla were on behalf of el Submarino Amarillo accurate and Bojan Krkic scored for Barcelona. More than thirteen years later, only Lionel Messi is still present and Barcelona has not lost one of the thirteen visits (eleven league matches and two cup matches) to Vila-real: eight wins, five draws and a goal difference of 27 for and 13 against. In the last three matches with Villarreal, Barcelona scored no less than ten times: 0-2, 4-4 and 1-4.
Villarreal setup: Asenjo; Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Alberto Moreno; Chukwueze, Capoue, Parejo, Trigueros; Gerard Moreno and Alcacer.
Line-up Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Piqué, Lenglet; Dest, De Jong, Busquets, Pedri, Jordi Alba; Messi and Griezmann.