FC Barcelona face one of the trickiest tests remaining on their Liga schedule this Saturday as they face high-flying Villarreal in a 4.15pm CET kick-off at Spotify Camp Nou.
The Catalans go into the game as leaders once again, after losing that status a fortnight ago following 2-1 defeat away to Girona. It took just one week to reclaim top spot, thanks to a 3-0 defeat of Levante coupled with Real Madrid's 2-2 loss to Osasuna.
Victory would ensure that Barça stay in pole position. Anything else would give Real Madrid the chance to move back in front when they host Getafe on Monday.
Head to head
Barça have every reason to take this game very seriously indeed. They have lost to Villarreal on three of the last four occasions that they have faced the Yellow Submarine at home. Villarreal won 2-0 in 2022, were victors in a simply extraordinary game that ended 5-3 in 2004, and then did it again with a 3-2 win last term. In fact, Saturday's visitors are looking to do something that has only ever happened twice before, by Espanyol in the 1940s and Real Madrid in the 1960s: win three league games in a row away to Barça.
Not that they are going to have it easy. Villarreal would need to achieve that feat against a Barça side that has won its last 12 games at home.
And Barça can also take solace from the fact that they won when these two sides met at La Cerámica earlier this season. A Raphinha penalty on 12 minutes and a Lamine Yamal goal in the second half secured a 2-0 win, although the hosts did play most of the game with just ten men after Renato Veiga was red-carded early on.
As Hansi Flick recalls, "they produced some very good transitions and we had a bit of luck ... We can’t make unnecessary mistakes and we have to play our football.”
Villarreal form guide
Villarreal were very much still in the Liga title chase until that moment. And to their credit, they are still hanging on in there, currently ten points behind the leaders, but able to cut the difference down to seven should they win on Saturday. Meanwhile, a Barça victory would virtually end any remote chance of Villarreal getting their hands on the trophy.
Marcelino's side have won three of their last four games, against Espanyol, Levante and Valencia, only losing to Getafe, while Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze is the man of the moment with goals in all but one of those encounters.
And while Barça are preparing for their Champions League round of 16 clash with Newcastle United, the least said about Villarreal's European campaign, the better. They ended the League Phase with just one point from eight games, the second poorest record of the 36 teams.
Team news
Both Raphinha and Pedri are now very much back into the flow of football after recovering from their fitness problems. However, Andreas Christensen remains unavailable, and although there has been positive news regarding Gavi's process, we'll still have to wait before the midfielder returns. Sadly, there was a new blow this week when it was revealed that Frenkie de Jong has a hamstring injury and will be out for around a month and a half.
Hansi Flick will also be without Gerard Martin, who misses the game on a yellow card suspension.
Villarreal are suffering from a spate of injuries, with forward Pau Cabanes, Cape Verde's Logan Costa, Argentina international Juan Foyth and DR Congolese centre-back Willy Kambwala all expected to miss this one, and question marks also regarding the fitness of experienced striker Gerard Moreno and the man who scored Senegal's winning goal in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final, Pape Gueye.