Barcelona will host Eibar in a match they should win to give themselves a chance to seize the top of the table, while the visitors have their own plans.
Barcelona used Neymarâs power to crush Rayo, although visitors played a really good match in the last round. As Lionel Messi remains injured, it looks like Neymar and Suarez are ready to fullfill his role, at least in some of the league games. The home encounter against Eibar should not be an exception, but the Basque side wonât go down so easily, seeing they havenât lost away from home five La Liga matches in a row â their last away defeat was at Mestalla in May last season, and they have managed not to lose against Getafe, Malaga, Levante and Las Palmas since. Although Barcelona is a class apart from the said teams, the record should be still treated with respect, as Jose Luis Mendilibarâs team stands high at the 7th place and looks to avoid even a fight for relegation.
During the midweek Barcelona won their Champions League clash against BATE Borisov with two strikes of Ivan Rakitic, while Neymar played yet another brilliant game and looks high on form. To stop him will be a main task of injury-ridden Eibarâs defence.
Barcelona will look to exploit that their current table neighbours, Celta and Real Madrid, play against each other, and maybe propel themselves to the top of the standings unopposed. Along with Messi, Rafinha and Sergi Roberto will be sidelined for Luis Enriqueâs side, with Iniesta possibly returning to the side, while a total of five players, including Adrian, Jaime and Ivan Ramis, are missing for Eibar.
Head to Head:
Two sides have played only two games in their history, both of them being in the last season of La Liga, and Barcelona have won both without conceding a goal â in the Round 8 they won 3-0 at Camp Nou, and confirmed that with a 0-2 victory at Ipurua in the Round 27.
Match facts:
- Barcelona have won their two previous La Liga games against Eibar without conceding a goal (3-0 and 2-0).
- Eibar are on a five game run without a defeat away from home in La Liga (W2 D3); their best ever record in the top-flight.
- Barcelona have conceded a goal in each of their last three league games at home â they have never conceded in four successive league home games under Luis Enrique.
- Eibar have scored the most goals in the opening 15 minutes of games this season (4), while Barcelona are yet to score in this period of the game.
- Eibar (7) and Real Madrid (2) are the only two sides to have conceded 100% of their La Liga goals this season in the second half of games.
- Eibar have dropped the most points after scoring the first goal of the game (6) this season.
- Barcelona have won the most points after conceding the first goal of the game (6) this season.
- This is a meeting between the team with the highest average possession â Barcelona, 64.1% â and the lowest average possession â Eibar, 40.8%.
Team news:
Barcelona: Injured â Messi, Rafinha, Sergi Roberto.
Eibar: Injured â Adrian, Gayoso, Jaime, Luna, Ramis.
Possible lineups:
Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Sandro, Neymar, Suarez.
Eibar: Riesgo; Capa, Dos Santos, Pantic, Rene; Escalante, Carrillo, Saul, Inui; Enrich, Borja.
FRom: SS.com
