Overview
Barcelona's winning streak in the new 2024-2025 season officially ended after a 1-2 defeat to AS Monaco in the opening match of the Champions League. This was a match in which Blaugrana lost a man early on due to Eric Garcia's red card, leaving coach Hansi Flick unable to react.
Back in La Liga, Barcelona will be looking for a win to maintain their top spot. Not only do they have a maximum of 15 points after their first five games, Barca have also scored 17 goals, four goals ahead of second-place Celta Vigo.
Villarreal are also off to a good start in La Liga 2024-2025, having picked up 11 points from five games. They are one of the teams with the best attack in La Liga this season, having scored 11 goals so far.
Having to host the superior Barcelona will be an extremely difficult problem for Villarreal. However, they have the advantage of playing at home at El Madrigal, as well as not having to play in the middle of the week. At the very least, the home team will aim to get points in this match.
In the history of confrontation from 2003 to present, Villarreal and Barcelona have met a total of 44 times, counting all competitions. During this period, Villarreal won 7 matches, scoring 52 goals, an average of 1.2 goals per match.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have won 28 matches, have scored more goals (97), an average of 2.2 goals per match. Therefore, it is likely that this will be an exciting match and witness many goals.
Human resources situation
Barcelona will be without several players for the trip to Villarreal due to injury, including Araujo, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, De Jong, Olmo, Marce Bernal and Christensen. Meanwhile, Ferran Torres is suspended following his red card in the previous round.
On the other side of the front line, Villarreal will not have the services of Foyth, Alfonso Pedraza, Gerard Moreno and Kambwala.
Expected lineup:
Villarreal: Conde, Femenia, Albiol, Bailly, Cardona, Pino, Comesana, Parejo, Baena, Barry, Perez.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde, Casado, Pedri, Yamal, Torre, Raphinha, Lewandowski.
The match between Villarreal and Barcelona takes place at 11:30 p.m. on September 22 (Vietnam time).
