PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Villarreal CF
The fully deserving 2024/25 Liga champions have already been crowed. 2-0 victory at Espanyol on Thursday saw to that and the victory parade, not just for the league but also the Spanish Super Cup and Copa del Rey, brought the city centre to a standstill on Friday.
But the partying goes on, for this Sunday Barça will be appearing at the Estadi Oimpic for the first time as confirmed champions. This game with Villarreal, kick off at 7pm CEST, and another next week against Athletic Club, are both at home and give the team and fans the chance to enjoy two games of football with the pressure off.
Trophy celebrations
Once the game is over, nobody will be leaving their seats. Because then it will time for music, fireworks and plenty of surprises as the stadium celebrates the official handover of the league trophy.
What an end to a season in which expectations at the start were unusually mild for a team like Barça. Indeed, as Hansi Flick said, his main goal was simply to make sure the team qualified for the Champions League. The domestic treble goes way beyond that!
Team news
Marc Bernal and Jules Koundé remain absent through injury, while Ferran Torres has just undergone an operation for appendicitis. However, Flick made it pretty clear in his pregame conference that he'll be rotating his squad considerably for this one, so it's hard to predict what kind of XI he is going to opt for in the end.
He may well choose to give chances to some of the players who have been getting less football this season, and there is even a suggestion going around that he'll field a team entirely made up of La Masia graduates.
However, the German coach also issued a warning. If his players have been well enough to party so hard this last few days, then they are also well enough to play. It would also seem unlikely that Robert Lewandowski will watch the whole game from the bench. While the outcome of this game ultimately matters little to most of the squad, it certainly does to the Pole, who is still in the running to finish as Liga top scorer. He has two games to make up a three-goal deficit behind Kylian Mbappé, and the more minutes he gets in these two games, the more chance he has.
Villarreal
But while Barça are essentially just playing for fun, the visitors are coming on a mission. After winning four games in a row, Villarreal are well on course for securing Champions League football for the fifth time. Five teams qualify from La Liga this season and they are currently fifth, and five points ahead of sixth-placed Betis.
So, a win on Sunday would guarantee their presence among the big boys of European football next season, while their goal difference is so strong that a draw would also suit them very well indeed.
The game also matters to Ayoze Pérez, who scored two goals midweek to take his total up to 18, meaning the Canary Islander is powerfully on course to win the Zarra prize as the top scoring Spaniard in La Liga.
Head to head
If Villarreal were to win, it would be nothing new. In fact, the Yellow Submarine have won on two of their last three visits. Three seasons ago they won 2-0, and last season an extraordinary game saw Barça bounce back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 only to ultimately lose 5-3.
Barça won 3-0 in the game played in between, and also won the reverse fixture earlier this season at the Estadio de la Ceramica. It ended 5-1, with braces from Lewandowski and Raphinha plus another from Pablo Torre. The final scoreline might suggest it was an easy win for the Catalans, but the truth is it was anything but.
What we can expect on Sunday are goals. The last three games between these sides have all produced six goals or more for a total of 21.