Barcelona vs Villarreal: La Liga – preview, team news, start, lineups

Who: Barcelona vs Villarreal
What: La Liga
Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
When: Saturday, February 28 at 4:15pm (15:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 12:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Barca welcome high-flying Villarreal to Camp Nou, with the hosts looking to tighten their grip on pole position in La Liga.
A win would provisionally take Barcelona four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who host mid-table Getafe on Monday night.

Barcelona had a mini-wobble earlier this month as they were thrashed 4-0 by Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal before losing 2-1 to Girona, allowing Madrid to briefly occupy top spot.

However, Barca bounced back with a 3-0 win over Levante last weekend to steady the ship, while Madrid slipped to a surprise defeat at Osasuna.

Third-placed Villarreal trail Barcelona by 10 points, and their hopes of competing for the title could be rekindled with a surprise victory at Camp Nou.

The visitors come into the game high on confidence after beating Valencia 2-1 in their last outing and winning three of their last four La Liga matches.

Villarreal have also won their last two away games against Barcelona, so they will have little fear heading into this showdown.
Barca strikers firing blanks as Villarreal visit
Barcelona host Villarreal amid concerns about the form of strikers Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.

Former Bayern Munich great Lewandowski, 37, has declined rapidly this season as well as enduring some fitness issues, while Torres, 25, is on course for a personal record for goals, but most of them came in a purple patch towards the end of last year.
The Catalan giants have obvious problems in defence, as opponents exploit their high line with growing regularity, but last season managed to score enough goals to outweigh their deficiencies in that area as they lifted a domestic treble.

Barca still lead La Liga for goals scored this season, with 67, but they are coming from everywhere – 10 different players have scored two or more, and nobody has more than Torres on 12.

But Torres has just three goals in his last 15 appearances across all competitions, and his all-round game is lacking, unable to contribute effectively as Barca build up attacks, frequently losing the ball.

Lewandowski has five goals in his last 18 games, but seems less mobile than before and a peripheral presence at times.

“With so many matches rotation at striker is natural, and I think Ferran and I can benefit from the current situation,” Lewandowski told Polish magazine Pilka Nozna this week.

“When you play 90 minutes every three days, your whole life is about recovery, now the balance is a little better. I’m tired but I’m not worn out.”