Barcelona: Barcelona will start their La Liga 2020-21 campaign with a home match against Villarreal CF. The last time the Catalan side played they were humiliated 8-2 at the hand of Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. Since then several changes have been made in the side.
Ronald Koeman was appointed as the new coach and the likes of Luis Suarez, Nelson Semedo, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal were sold, the well known “Leo Messi fiasco”, everything combined Barcelona had a pretty dramatic season break and pre-season.
They will officially return now, with Messi still being the captain of the team and also the sole hope of the team. For Barcelona Marc-André ter Stegen, Martin Braithwaite, Samuel Umtiti are all ruled out of this game while for Villarreal Alberto Moreno, Ramiro Guerra, Rubén Peña are ruled out and Raúl Albiol is doubtful.
On the match front, Villarreal is a tough opponent and are still unbeaten this season. Managed by Unai Emery, they have the same attacking approach as last season. The starting match can prove to be a good test, for the home team as they are going through some major changes and internal turmoil all at the same time.
Koeman is predicted to play his 4-2-3-1 just like the pre-season games, where Barcelona didn’t dazzle as much as they would have hoped to. Emery on the other hand might play 4-4-2. The opening match is going to set a very clear picture, whether there has been any improvement in the squad since their last defeat to Bayern or it is still somewhere bleak for the Catalans.
