Villarreal - Barcelona prediction
The most interesting match of the round in La Liga pits Villarreal against Barcelona.
The hosts are fighting to get into the Top 4, while the visitors are the convincing leader in the standings.
The rivalry between these two teams does not have as rich a history as others in the Primera Division.
Considering the Yellow Submarine's relatively recent promotion to Spain's top division.
The two teams have played each other 45 times in La Liga. As the first meeting was in December 1998.
Villarreal have won just 9 times, drawn 9 times and lost a total of 27 encounters since then.
Eight of their wins came in the decade between 1998 and 2008. But their record against Barca has been terrible since then.
The Yellow Submarine have won just 1 of their last 27 matches against the Blaugranas in the league (1-6-20).
That was the 2-0 success in May 2022, but in a game of no importance when the league places were all but decided.
And today, things are heading towards success for the Catalans.
In view of the football fact that Villarreal lost 3 of their last 4 matches .
There were 4+ goals in two of those defeats.
At the same time, Barcelona is on a top streak – 7 consecutive victories in all tournaments.
And lately the attackers have started to remind themselves and score a lot.
Therefore, my prediction is for the Catalans to win in a match with at least 3 goals scored in total.
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Villarreal - statistics and info
Villarreal seemed to be able to make some nice progress under Quique Setien.
But after the recent string of bad results , I'm not so sure about that anymore.
The former Betis and Barcelona manager started his reign at the Estadio de la Ceramica with a draw and 3 losses.
Before winning six and drawing one of their next seven games.
Losses to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey and to Rayo Vallecano and Elche in La Liga have recently put the pressure back on the manager.
Villarreal have lost their last two matches in La Liga .
Most recently, it suffered 3 consecutive losses in the championship in March 2020 under the leadership of Javier Calleja.
Setien has lost six of his seven games against Barcelona in La Liga.
And his teams have allowed 3.6 goals per game during that streak.
Furthermore, he has lost more La Liga games as a manager against Barca than against any other opponent.
Barcelona - statistics and info
Barcelona have not lost a game since a turbulent October period.
When they were eliminated from the Champions League and lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in La Liga.
Defeats to Inter and Bayern dashed their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages.
But they recovered well from this setback. And now Barca leads alone in La Liga.
Not without the help of Real Madrid, who have been very hesitant lately.
The loss to Mallorca is the latest setback to the White Ballet's title chances.
If Barcelona can hold on until the end of the campaign, it will be their first La Liga title in the post-Messi era at the club.
The big news in the Catalan camp in terms of injuries has to do with Sergio Busquets .
He has ankle ligament damage he picked up against Sevilla and could miss 3 weeks.
Including the upcoming meeting with Manchester United in the Europa League.
Xavi has Frenkie de Jong as a natural replacement. But what that means for the rest of the team remains a mystery.
Squads and injured footballers
Villarreal
Lineup: Reyna; Foyt, Albiol, P. Torres, Mojica; Capue, Parejo; Chukwueze, Baena, Pinot; G. Moreno
Injured: Pedrasa, Jackson, Lo Celso, Jorgensen
Barcelona
Lineup: Ter Stegen; Kunde, Araujo, Christensen, Alba; Pedri, De Jong, Gavi; Rafinha, Lewandowski, Fati
Injured: Dembele, Busquets
Matches Villarreal - Barcelona
| League | Date | Match |
|---|---|---|
| LL | 20/10/22 | Barcelona 3:0 Villarreal |
| LL | 22/05/22 | Barcelona 0:2 Villarreal |
| LL | 27/11/21 | Villarreal 1:3 Barcelona |
| LL | 25/04/21 | Villarreal 1:2 Barcelona |
| LL | 27/09/20 | Barcelona 4:0 Villarreal |
| LL | 05/07/20 | Villarreal 1:4 Barcelona |
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