Villarreal opened their account in this La Liga campaign with a hard-fought victory over “Mallorca” with a score of 1:0 last Friday. Coach Quique Seti?n was satisfied with the result and the clean sheet, stating after the match that the “plan was executed perfectly” as the “Yellow Submarine” coped with the absence of key players across all lines. Their next opponent will be “Barcelona”, and Seti?n needs his team to continue this winning momentum to change their dismal record against his former employers. He certainly needs to forget that the “Yellow” team won only one of the last 28 head-to-head matches in La Liga, or that their tally of 28 losses in the face-offs is the worst record against any single team in the top division’s history. Today, Pino, Moreno, and Cocu will be unavailable due to injuries.
Just minutes before the end of their previous match, “Barcelona” found inspiration to defeat the resilient “Cadiz” with a score of 2:0. Summer signing Ilkay G?ndogan became the architect of victory, delivering a splendid assist before coach Xavi declared him the “cornerstone of the team”. Xavi will miss this game due to a red card received at the start of the season, but the absence of the injured Pedri, who opened his account last weekend and also scored the only goal in the corresponding match last season, might be a bigger blow. A visit to the “Estadio de la Cer?mica” might not seem daunting, at least on paper, as the guests have avoided defeat in their last 14 away league matches, part of their impressive recent record against “Villarreal”. A small piece of history also awaits “Bar?a”, as they are just two goals away from becoming the first club to score 100 goals in the top division against today’s hosts. Martinez, Pedri, and Araujo are out of the game due to injury.
