Villarreal vs Barcelona

The matches for the sixth game week of the 2024-25 La Liga season continue on Sunday night as Villarreal hosts Barcelona at Estadio de la Ceramica.

Villaroline were at position eight in La Liga last season, which has to go down as a huge disappointment given that they had been fifth twice and seventh twice since getting 14th placement in the 2018/2019 season.

But the Yellow Submarine have been in good form early on in this campaign, winning three and drawing two of their five games for a total of 11 points and sit in fourth place, the same point as second place Atletico Madrid and four points behind the leaders Barcelona.

In the previous ACN schedule game, Marcelino’s side set the ball rolling with a 2-2 draw against Atletico in their campaign opener before crippling consecutive victories over sevill and Celta Vigo to take seven points in as many games.

They took another point away to Valencia on August 31, before claims the three points against Mallorca in the last weekend, with former Newcastle striker Ayoze Perez scoring the winner in the fourth minute stoppage time at the end of the 90.

The Yellow Submarine will be eyeing its first win against Barcelona at home since October 2007 but the team did triumph 5-3 over the Catalan side when they last played on the last day of January this year.

Barcelona, on the other hand, will approach this match after losing 2-1 to Monaco in the first match of their Champions League phase of 32 on Thursday night.

Eric Garcia's 10-minute red card made it a difficult evening for Hansi Flick's team, and after leveling the scores at 1-1 in the 28th minute thanks to Lamine Yamal's first Champions League goal, Monaco scored a second in the 71st minute to take all three points.

Barcelona's league play this season, however, has been flawless, with five consecutive victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, Rayo Vallecano, Real Valladolid, and Girona to lead the division with 15 points.

The Catalan club now has three consecutive league games against Villarreal, Getafe, and Osasuna before returning to Champions League play against Young Boys on October 1, and they will be under pressure to grab all three points in their second game of the league campaign.

Barcelona defeated Villarreal 4-3 in the same match last season, and as previously stated, they have not lost away to the Yellow Submarine since October 2007, underlining their supremacy in this matchup.

Villarreal will be without four players against Barcelona due to injuries, including Willy Kambwala, Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth, and Alfonso Pedraza.

Ayoze Perez has had a great start to his Villarreal career, scoring three goals in five league games, and the Spain international will lead the line again on Sunday.

Thierno Barry, who arrived in the summer, is also expected to preserve his spot, and head coach Marcelino may choose an unchanged side for this encounter, which would mean Yeremy Pino and Nicolas Pepe would have to return to the bench at the start.