Barcelona are hosting Leganes for the next La Liga fixture on Saturday. The Camp Nou will be witnessing sides who are on the different spectrum of the points table. Barcelona are at the summit with a 9-point lead while Leganes are fighting to put their relegation concerns beyond them.
The visitors have moved 15 points clear of the bottom three and will have a major hand in upsetting the title-race in this fixture.
If they can stop the Catalan giants, Atletico Madrid will come in touching distance with 7 games still left in the regular season. They were impressive against Athletic Bilbao earlier in March to get the 2-1 win but unfortunately could not manage the same against Valencia last weekend.
Barcelona, on the other hand, might already have wrapped up the domestic ties for good. Bitter rivals, Real Madrid are miles behind in the title race and have already been knocked out of the Copa Del Rey against their Leganes, themselves.
Ernesto Valverde’s men have dominated the Spanish side throughout the season and have set their eyes on European glory, something which their rivals have been credited with for two consecutive seasons. Barcelona are coming off a 2-2 draw against Sevilla in their last league fixture. The Red and Whites held off the Blaugrana attack remarkably well and made a statement of their ambitions to make a strong finish in the European stage.
The last time they met Leganes in the league was back in November 2017 and won the fixture, 3-0. A similar story is expected to take place on Saturday, however, an upset cannot be ruled out just yet.
Here is how Barcelona might lineup on gameday.
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Defence
A few changes are expected in anticipation of the midweek Champions League fixture. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is still the first choice in between the sticks.
He might get shielded by the defensive quartet of Jordi Alba, Thomas Vermalean, Gerard Pique and Nelson Semedo.
Midfield
Paulinho and Andre Gomes might appear in the holding midfield role with Andres Iniesta fielded in front of them. Sergio Busquets is still recovering from the knock.
Attack
Ousmane Dembele might appear from the left flank with Luis Suarez on strike and Sergi Roberto on the right.
Lionel Messi looked rusty against AS Roma on Wednesday evening and might just be rested for this tie.
