Three wins on the trot in La Liga have made Barcelona and their fans recover from their astonishing back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid and Celta Vigo. The Blaugrana did not waste time to find back their groove. They have since recorded four clean sheets in six matches in all competitions.
Ironically, the last goal Barca conceded was an own goal scored by Jordi Alba in an emphatic 5-1 victory at home to Sevilla. Messi stole the show with a hat-trick to become La Liga’s all-time topscorer while Neymar and Rakitic added their names on the score sheet.
Luis Enrique’s men went on to beat APOEL 4-0 in the UEFA Champions League, Valencia 1-0 in the league and Huesca 4-0 in the Copa del Rey.
Interestingly, local rivals Espanyol (14) have not even scored half of Barcelona’s 31 goals in La Liga this season. Yet, with 17 goals allowed, they have conceded almost three times more than the Blaugrana (6). Espanyol are struggling in the second half of the table with only three wins out of 13 games and their poised to endure a bad adventure at the Camp Nou, this Sunday.
In midweek, Andres Iniesta made a successful return from injury and ended an eight-month goal drought. He is expected to start in the Catalonian derby and offer the hosts more creativity upfront. Luis Enrique will want his men to be more clinical after sweating until the last few minutes to snatch a narrow win away to Valencia last weekend, thanks to a late winner by Sergio Busquets.
The other piece of good news for Barcelona is that Messi’s controversial yellow card – for ‘wasting time’ and ‘complaining to the referee’ after being hit with a bottle at the Mestalla stadium – has been cancelled. It all looks like the Blaugrana will bag their fourth consecutive league win this Sunday.
Barcelona vs. Espanyol team sheets
Barcelona's starting XI: Bravo; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Sergio, Xavi, Rakitić; Neymar, Messi, Suárez.
Barcelona's bench: Ter Stegen, Mathieu, Adriano, Iniesta, Rafinha, Pedro, Munir
Espanyol's starting XI: Casilla; Arbilla, Álvaro, Bailly, Fuentes; Cañas, Víctor Sánchez, S. Sevilla, Lucas Vázquez; Sergio García, Caiced
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