FC Barcelona News: 2 April 2019

Could Barça forward Malcom be Messi’s shield against Villareal? | Sport

Ernesto Valverde has included all his big names in the squad for the trip to Villarreal. However, he could give Malcom game time after an impressive cameo against Espanyol, and also because he’s wary of Luis Suarez having only just come back from injury.

Barcelona are the toughest opposition for Villarreal | Marca

Barcelona take on Villarreal on Tuesday and have a brilliant record against the Yellow Submarine. In 43 meetings between the two teams Barcelona have won 25, more than any other team.

PSG, Chelsea & Man Utd: Where Coutinho could end up this summer | Sport

Sport look at potential destinations for Philippe Coutinho should he leave Barcelona in the summer. PSG reportedly remain interested, Chelsea may be in need of a replacement for Eden Hazard but there are doubts about Manchester United given the Brazilian played for their fierce rivals Liverpool.

Asenjo awaits the storm | Marca

Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo has made more saves than any other player in La Liga this season and is expecting a busy evening against Barcelona. He said: “Many goalkeepers think it’s best not to put a wall in front of his freekicks. But we feel more protected with it. It would be difficult to stop him in any case, but it’s something to be considered.”

Thomas Lemar out, Diego Costa a doubt to face Barcelona | Sport

Atletico Madrid have injury problems ahead of Saturday’s clash with Barcelona. Thomas Lemar has been ruled out with a thigh injury, and Diego Costa is a doubt due to a hamstring problem. Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata are likely to lead the line.

Marco Silva pushes Everton to permanently sign Andre Gomes | Football Espana

Everton manager Marco Silva wants the Toffees to sign Andre Gomes from Barcelona on a permanent basis. The boss was asked about signing the midfielder and said: “It is a very, very good opportunity for us.”

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Barça squad named for Villarreal

Ernesto Valverde has called up 19 players for Tuesday’s trip

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana face a difficult game away from home as they face Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica, and Ernesto Valverde has called up the following 19 players* for Tuesday’s road game:

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Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Samuel Umtiti, 24. Thomas Vermaelen

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 7. Philippe Coutinho, 8. Arthur, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Carles Aleñá, 22. Arturo Vidal

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 14. Malcom, 19. Kevin-Prince Boateng

*One player from this group will be cut from the final squad before the game since only 18 can be in uniform.

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There are no fresh injuries or suspensions from the Espanyol game, so Valverde was able to call up the same players for this one, with the addition of Vermaelen for... some reason? Ousmane Dembélé (hamstring), Jasper Cillessen (hip) and Rafinha (knee) miss out through injury, while Jean-Clair Todibo and Jeison Murillo don’t make the trip per the manager’s decision.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Roberto; Vidal, Busquets, Arthur; Malcom, Suárez, Coutinho

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The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET (Barcelona), 8.30pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 1am IST (India, Wednesday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

VISCA EL BARÇA!

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Villarreal vs Barça: Preview

Barça travel to a historically tough ground looking for another win to improve on their current total of 69 points. Nice.

Villarreal CF (17th, 29pts) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 69pts)*

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*Points and positions at the time of writing on Monday

Competition/Round: 2018-19 La Liga, Matchday 30

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ousmane Dembélé, Jasper Cillessen, Rafinha, Jean-Clair Todibo, Jeison Murillo (out)

Villarreal Outs & Doubts: Bruno Soriano, Manu Trigueros, Miguelón, Javi Fuego (out), Gerard Moreno, Jaume Costa (doubt)

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019, 9.30pm CET (Barcelona), 8.30pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 1am IST (India, Wednesday)

Venue: Estadio de la Cerámica, Villareal, Spain

Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández (OH BOY BOY)

How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Eleven Sports 1, ITV 4 (UK), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), Movistar Partidazo (Spain), others

How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), ITV Hub (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), others

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Following a tough victory in the Catalan Derby against Espanyol at the weekend, Barcelona are back in action with what promises to be a tough game on the road when they face Villarreal at what will always be El Madrigal. I don’t care if the pottery mafia runs the city and sponsors the stadium now, the Villarreal stadium is El Madrigal for the rest of time.

Now that we’ve established the most important thing about Tuesday’s game, let’s talk football: Villarreal are just one point above the relegation zone and are in real danger of going down, which is still hard to understand when you look at how good their squad is. They just haven’t been able to play well all season long apart from a nice run in the Europa League, and they’ve definitely reached desperation mode right now.

They need something against Barça, and the good news for them is they’ve always made things tough for Barça at the Madrigal regardless of the table. The atmosphere is different, the players try a little harder and this time they could earn real momentum by getting a point (or three) against the virtual champions. They’re talented enough to do it, and El Madrigal has always been tough for Barça.

Do not look at the table for this one: Villarreal have good players and their good players always become better against Barça. This will be extremely difficult, and Barça may have their eye at the bigger games against Atlético Madrid and Manchester United coming in the next seven days, which may reflect on Ernesto Valverde’s team selection that might send Lionel Messi to the bench. If you’re a Barça fan, I’m sure you agree: this one screams Trap Game. Really loud.

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POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Roberto; Vidal, Busquets, Arthur; Malcom, Suárez, Coutinho

Villarreal (3-5-2): Asenjo; Álvaro, Funes Mori, Ruiz; Mario, Iborra, Cáseres, Cazorla, Pedraza; Ekambi, Bacca

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PREDICTION

I’m really not very optimistic for this one. The Atlético and United games are much bigger and this team loves to pick its spots, plus a point at the Madrigal is never bad: 2-2 draw.

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Cerezo says Griezmann is ‘1,000 per cent’ staying at Atletico

‘No chance’ he will leave, according to the president

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has ruled out Antoine Griezmann leaving the Wanda Metropolitano this summer.

Barcelona have again been linked with a move for the World Cup winner, but Cerezo says he will be playing his football for Atletico next season.

“There is no chance that Griezmann leaves in the summer,” he said.

“He is 1,000 percent staying.”

Source | El Rondo

Griezmann himself has said he’s a “little fed up” with the speculation, but you can bet on there being more rumors between now and the end of the season.

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Yellow cards and fixture congestion force Barcelona to rotate

Barcelona has pivotal matches against Atlético Madrid and Manchester United on the horizon

FC Barcelona may take a gigantic step to win La Liga and another huge step in trying to win the UEFA Champions League soon, but first they have to take on Villarreal.

The yellow submarine is only one point ahead of the relegation zone and will host league leading Barcelona tomorrow. The Catalans will then face Atlético Madrid at the Camp Nou four days later before going to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League on the 10th.

United themselves will only play against Wolverhampton Wanderers before facing Barça, enjoying 8 days’ rest in the process.

This situation will surely force Ernesto Valverde to rotate some, especially as three important players are one card away from missing one match in the league: Gerard Piqué, Ivan Rakitić, and Arturo Vidal.

One good thing for Valverde is that some of his players missed some or part of the international break matches. Luis Suárez didn’t travel with his national team, Piqué played an exhibition with the Catalan national team, and Lionel Messi played only one of Argentina’s two friendlies. This has afforded some of his key players a bit of a rest going into this run of games. Another good development would be the return of Ousmane Dembélé from injury. He’s expected to be back to play against Atlético.

Another opportunity to rotate exists between the two games against United, when Barcelona play against the 20th-placed team in La Liga, SD Huesca.

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Valverde talks Messi, Malcom and Dembele

The latest from the Barcelona boss

Ernesto Valverde has held his pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Villarreal in La Liga.

The Barcelona boss talked about resting Lionel Messi, the title race, the Champions League, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele.

Here are the best bits:

Valverde on resting Lionel Messi

There is never an ideal time to rest a player like him. But we’ll see tomorrow. We think this match is very important. Many are looking ahead to Atletico Madrid, but the three points on offer in this match are much the same as those on offer against Atletico.

Valverde on Malcom and Coutinho

These are situations that happen during the season. Sometimes one player is better than another, sometimes it’s the other way around in terms of form. Everyone always talks about forwards, but what we are expecting and hoping for is the best Coutinho, the best Malcom and the best Dembele

Valverde on Dembele

I’m not completely certain when we will have him back. It might be Saturday, it might be against Man Utd. I can’t give an exact date, but around about that time.

Valverde on Griezmann

The fact he is being spoken about is not destabilising for us or for Atletico, It’s just the same as last year. People always talk about our players as well, it’s habitual.

Valverde on La Liga

We have nine more games if we win six we’ll be champions, that’s the reality. The best thing to do is keep putting away game after game. Having to win six games only doesn’t mean we’ve won the league we still have to do a lot before that hpppens.

Valverde on Villarreal

Our opponents are going through a difficult situation. They were winning 2-0 the other day and then ended up losing to Celta Vigo. They’re far down the table, but have had many good matches against the likes of Sevilla, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, plus they’re in the Europa League quarter-finals. It’s often tough for us to beat them.

Valverde on the Champions League

Historically when Barca have won the Champions League, they’ve won La Liga too. I know that’s a competition which the fans love, the players and everyone, but the Champions League can betray you in any game, in 15 bad minutes.

By contrast, in La Liga, you judge yourself from the first minute to the last of the season. It’s our bread and butter, it’s how you judge yourself each week.

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Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa congratulate Busquets on anniversary of Spain debut

It’s been 10 years since his first appearance

Sergio Busquets made his debut for Spain a massive 10 years ago and it’s an anniversary that has not gone unnoticed.

Some big names have paid tribute to the Barcelona midfielder in a special message which he shared on Twitter.

Pedro, Jordi Alba, David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Iker Casillas all sent goodwill messages which you can check out in the video below.

Hoy hace 10 años que debuté con la @sefutbol contra Turquía.
Gracias a todos mis compañeros y en especial @Guaje7Villa @andresiniesta8 Xavi @IkerCasillas @_Pedro17_ @JordiAlba
por estar presentes en un día tan especial para mi! pic.twitter.com/EK3Rq81kwc

— Sergio Busquets (@5sergiob) April 1, 2019

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