Following Girona’s humbling defeat to Real Madrid on Saturday, Barcelona have the chance to close to within three points of their Catalan neighbours when they host Granada at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Sunday evening.
Barcelona have won five of their last six matches in La Liga, a run that they will hope to extend against a struggling Granada side. They produce an excellent result and performance last time out against Alaves, and as a result, head coach Xavi Hernandez intends to make just one change from that side.
It’s a big one too, as Sport say that Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will return in goals, having fully recovered from a back injury that has seen him out of action for the last three months. Inaki Pena, who has deputised during this period, will return to the bench. Raphinha is also back from injury, but he is expected to be a substitute, with Lamine Yamal in line to start his sixth successive match.
Granada are winless in their last four, and they need to start picking up results if they are to remain in La Liga beyond this season. There will be no Bryan Zaragoza, who tormented Barcelona in the return fixture, as he joined Bayern Munich in January. There is expected to be two changes from the side that drew with Las Palmas last time out, with Kamil Piatkowski and Gonzalo Villar suspended – their replacements are likely to be Ignasi Miquel and Gerard Gumbau.
Barcelona will fancy their chances of continuing their good form with another victory in this one. However, Granada – whom Xavi has yet to defeat during his time in charge – will make it very difficult, as they look for a positive result of their own.
