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| PROBABLE LINE-UPS |
VILLARREAL  Diego Lopez Angel, Musacchio, Gonzalo, Oriol Valero, Senna, Bruno, Cani Ruben, Barroso | BARCELONA  Valdes Alves, Pique, Puyol, Abidal Xavi, Mascherano, Busquets Messi, Cesc, Pedro |
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side picked up injuries to key players in their 2-2 Clasico draw with Real Madrid on Wednesday. Andres Iniesta has been ruled out for three weeks after coming off with a hamstring tear on his left leg, while Alexis Sanchez could also miss out, too.
David Villa and Ibrahim Afellay are absentees with a broken leg and a ligament injury keeping the duo out long term. Victor Valdes will come back into the side to resume La Liga duty and Javier Mascherano may be drafted in to the first XI for the match at El Madrigal.
Jose Molina will welcome a number of his first team squad back into training in the past week or so. Carlos Marchena, Mateo Musacchio and Javi Camunas have all returned to fitness after shaking off niggling injuries.
Jose Molina will welcome a number of his first team squad back into training in the past week or so. Carlos Marchena, Mateo Musacchio and Javi Camunas have all returned to fitness after shaking off niggling injuries.
Wakaso Mubarak has also returned to training after undergoing a successful nose operation. However, Jose Catala is still absent after surgery on his right knee at the start of January. Giuseppe Rossi is also still injured after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament at the start of the season.
| DID YOU KNOW? |
- Villarreal have picked up 16 of their 19 points at home this season. The only team to beat
them at El Madrigal this campaign were Levante, who won 3-0.
- The Yellow Submarine have beaten Barca eight times (home and away) since first winning promotion to La Liga in 1998. The only team with more victories against the Catalans in that period is Deportivo La Coruna, with nine wins.
- Jose Molina's side are unbeaten in their last five matches at El Madrigal, winning three times and drawing twice.
- Barcelona have won the past three encounters at El Madrigal, with the last victory coming on April 2nd 2011, when they came out with a narrow 1-0 win.
- The last time a club made up at least five points in the second half of the season was in 2002-03 when Real Madrid overtook Real Sociedad. Los Blancos were five points behind after 19 matches and had a two-point lead over Sociedad in the final standings.
Villarreal are not the impressive team of the past three or four seasons. The key departure of Santi Cazorla and the injury to Giuseppe Rossi have hurt them this campaign. In their previous match with Barcelona they lost heavily in a 5-0 defeat at Camp Nou, so this shows they can no longer cope with the big guns. Expect a comfortable victory Pep for Guardiola's side.
Editor's Prediction
Villarreal 0-3 Barcelona 
