Who: Barcelona vs Villarreal
What: La Liga
Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
When: Saturday, February 28 at 4:15pm (15:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 12:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Barca welcome high-flying Villarreal to Camp Nou, with the hosts looking to tighten their grip on pole position in La Liga.
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A win would provisionally take Barcelona four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who host mid-table Getafe on Monday night.
Barcelona had a mini-wobble earlier this month as they were thrashed 4-0 by Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal before losing 2-1 to Girona, allowing Madrid to briefly occupy top spot.
However, Barca bounced back with a 3-0 win over Levante last weekend to steady the ship, while Madrid slipped to a surprise defeat at Osasuna.
Third-placed Villarreal trail Barcelona by 10 points, and their hopes of competing for the title could be rekindled with a surprise victory at Camp Nou.
The visitors come into the game high on confidence after beating Valencia 2-1 in their last outing and winning three of their last four La Liga matches.
Villarreal have also won their last two away games against Barcelona, so they will have little fear heading into this showdown.
Barca strikers firing blanks as Villarreal visit
Barcelona host Villarreal amid concerns about the form of strikers Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.
Former Bayern Munich great Lewandowski, 37, has declined rapidly this season as well as enduring some fitness issues, while Torres, 25, is on course for a personal record for goals, but most of them came in a purple patch towards the end of last year.
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The Catalan giants have obvious problems in defence, as opponents exploit their high line with growing regularity, but last season managed to score enough goals to outweigh their deficiencies in that area as they lifted a domestic treble.
Barca still lead La Liga for goals scored this season, with 67, but they are coming from everywhere – 10 different players have scored two or more, and nobody has more than Torres on 12.
But Torres has just three goals in his last 15 appearances across all competitions, and his all-round game is lacking, unable to contribute effectively as Barca build up attacks, frequently losing the ball.
Lewandowski has five goals in his last 18 games, but seems less mobile than before and a peripheral presence at times.
“With so many matches rotation at striker is natural, and I think Ferran and I can benefit from the current situation,” Lewandowski told Polish magazine Pilka Nozna this week.
“When you play 90 minutes every three days, your whole life is about recovery, now the balance is a little better. I’m tired but I’m not worn out.”
Flick considers deploying Rashford as a striker
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has not used England international Marcus Rashford much in that position, with the Manchester United loanee more keen on operating from the left.
However, with Raphinha fit and firing after an injury absence, Rashford might now view playing as a number nine as his best chance of more minutes.
Rashford has been effective for Barca this season, albeit as much in providing assists rather than scoring, laying on 13 goals for his teammates while netting 10 himself in 34 games across all competitions.
While other sides took part in the Champions League playoff round, Flick hopes a relatively quiet couple of weeks for his side will have been of huge benefit.
“It’s important that we [had] these two weeks to rest a little bit but also focus on the next match against Villarreal; that will also be a tough match,” said Flick.
“After that, hopefully every three or four days we have a match, so it’s important to have these two weeks.”
‘They’re a brave team that leaves spaces’
Villarreal defender Santiago Mourino said his side were coming to Camp Nou for all three points and highlighted Barcelona’s high line as a weakness they would look to exploit.
“We want to beat Barcelona and close the gap on them. It’s a difficult game. They’ve won all their home games,” Mourino said in a pre-match news conference.
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“Let’s see if we can end their winning streak. We have to play as equals.”
He added: “They’re a brave team that leaves spaces and we have to take advantage of those chances. We have great strikers and we need to be clinical to win.
“We are one of the best teams in La Liga in open play and on the counterattack. If we are accurate, we can do well.”
Head-to-head
Barcelona and Villarreal have locked horns on 57 occasions. Barcelona won 35 of those games, Villarreal won 12, and 10 matches ended as draws.
Villarreal have won their last two games away at Barca by scoring plenty of goals – recording a 3-2 victory in May 2025 and a 5-3 win in January 2024.
What happened the last time these clubs met?
Barcelona wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal guided the Catalan giants to a 2-0 win away at 10-man Villarreal in December 2025.
Brazilian international Raphinha won and converted an early penalty before Villarreal’s Renato Veiga was sent off before half-time for a late lunge on Yamal.
Lamal slotted home Barca’s second midway through the second half.
Barcelona team news
Barca announced on Thursday that midfielder Frenkie de Jong will be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring issue. Centre-back Andreas Christensen has also been ruled out for a lengthy period with a similar injury.
Defender Gerard Martin will be suspended for accumulating too many yellow cards.
In some positive news for Barca, midfielder Gavi has resumed training following a serious knee injury that has kept him out of action since August, but he is not expected to feature until sometime in March.
Predicted starting XI:
Joan Garcia (goalkeeper); Kounde, Cubarsi, Eric Garcia, Balde; Bernal, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Villarreal’s team news
Pau Cabanes, Logan Costa, Juan Foyth, Willy Kambwala have all been ruled out with injuries, while Gerard Moreno and Pape Gueye face late fitness tests.
Possible starting XI:
Luiz Junior (goalkeeper); Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Pedraza; Pepe, Comesana, Gueye, Moleiro; Mikautadze, Perez
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: aljazeera.com
