Villarreal vs Barcelona – Preview, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction | La Liga 2021-22

Xavi Hernandez at presentation of Santander Bank in Barcelona, Catalonia
Xavi Hernandez at presentation of Santander Bank in Barcelona, Catalonia - IMAGO / Agencia EFE

Barcelona will play Villareal this weekend in the 15th round of the 2021/22 La Liga season.

Venue: Estadio de la Ceramica (Villarreal) 

Key Statistics

Villareal have won just two of their last five home games (D1, L2).

They have the ninth-best home record in the league this season having won three of their opening six home games (D2, L1). 

The Yellow Submarines have scored 15 goals this season. Eleven of those goals came at home while six were conceded at home (13 conceded overall).

Villareal boss Unai Emery has won just two of his 27 matches against Barcelona (D6, L19).

Barcelona are unbeaten in their last five games.

They have kept two consecutive clean sheets for the first time since September when they kept two consecutive clean sheets against Cadiz and Levante. 

The visitors have scored 20 times in the league this season and have conceded 15 times. Away from home, they are one of the worst teams in the top division having taken just three points from a possible 15 (D3, L2).

Head to head

The last ten head-to-head meetings between both sides have produced eight wins for Barca while Villareal won only once in that period (D1).

Latest Performances in all competitions

Villareal: L-D-W-W-L

Barcelona: D-W-D-W-D

Villareal

After their midweek exertions in the Champions League, Villareal turn their attention to La Liga this weekend where they welcome Barcelona.

The Yellow Submarines were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United on Tuesday to leave their UCL destiny hanging in the balance. Despite playing well and controlling large spells of the game, Unai Emery’s side were undone by late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho.

They will now look to bounce back in La Liga where they are currently occupying 12th place after 13 games. The hosts come into this tie with one win from their last five La Liga games and are in danger of finishing the season outside of the top six if they continue to pick up points at this rate.

They must improve drastically if they want to finish well. 

The hosts though will take comfort in their home form which has seen them lose just once in five La Liga games. Also, 73% of their league goals this term have come at home gigging them the notion that they will score against this Barca side struggling to win away games this term. 

Possible Villareal starting line-ups

Geronimo Rulli; Alfonso Pedraza, Pau Torres, Raul Albiol, Serge Aurier; Etienne Capoue, Francis Coquelin, Dani Parejo; Arnaut Danjuma, Yeremi Pino, Boulaye Dia.

Injured: None

Doubtful: Gerard Moreno

Suspended: None

Barcelona 

Barcelona suffered a disappointing 0-0 draw with Benfica in the Champions League in midweek, leaving them on the brink of elimination from the competition and into the Europa League.

The Catalan side now have to get a result when they travel to Munich in the next UCL game to give them a chance to continue playing in the UCL.

With their UCL future to be decided in the next few weeks, they will now turn their attention to La Liga where they are equally fighting to get himself back into title contention. The Blaugrana are sitting in 7th place, ten points behind leaders Real Madrid and with a very poor goal difference. 

Under new manager Xavi, the visitors have taken four points from two games. But that ratio might not be enough to close the gap that is opening at the top.

After picking up a win last week against Espanyol, Xavi will be desperate to record another win here. If he does, the result will be Barca’s first away win in the league this season. 

Possible Barcelona starting line-ups 

Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Oscar Mingueza, Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong; Nico;  Ousamane Demebele, Gavi, Memphis Depay.

Injured: Martin Braithwaite, Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati, Sergio Aguero.

Suspended: None

Prediction

Villareal 0-2 Barcelona