In this week 10 match, on Thu Oct 20th, Villarreal will travel to Barcelona to battle Barcelona in a clash of these two mismatched La Liga teams. The game day is forecasted to be a cloudy but warm day with daytime temperatures of 22 degrees, which should make for a nice day for football. 2nd placed Barcelona is fresh off their 1-3 loss against Real Madrid. Karim Benzema struck first for Real Madrid in the 12th minute, then Federico Valverde added another in the 35th minute on a feed from Ferland Mendy. Barcelona is on a hot streak lately, having won 7 of their last 10, while 9th placed Villarreal is fresh off their 0-1 loss against Real Sociedad. Brais Méndez struck first for Real Sociedad in the 33rd minute, and that single goal was all that was necessary as neither team could manage any more scoring In the end, Villarreal was frustrated by Real Sociedad’s defence and couldn’t put any tallies on the board. Real Sociedad ended the match with the shutout victory. Villarreal is looking for direction having earned 14 points in their last 10 matches.
This match will be the first time these two teams face eachother this season. Last season these teams were evenly matched with 1 win each.
Villarreal is having problems scoring lately. Their top scorers, Morales and Francis Coquelin each only have 1 goal in their last 5. Robert Lewandowski has been the most effective weapon for Barcelona lately. The attacker has netted three goals in his last 5 matches
Xavier Hernández Creus’s Barcelona squad will be without Bellerín, Frenkie de Jong, Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessié and Jules Koundé, while Unai Emery Etxegoien’s squad will be without Juan Foyth, Gerard Moreno, Alberto Moreno, Manu Trigueros and Pepe Reina.