Barcelona will look to cap off a successful week when they face Celta Vigo on Monday. The Nou Camp outfit have had a slightly topsy-turvy season, scoring 7 against Celtic while also losing to Alaves. The Barcelona we have come to know, capable of churning out wins, week in week out has been missing till now. They have also been hindered by injuries and unavailability of players which has resulted in the absence of the fluidity we have come to associate with Barça. Neymar missed the start of the season due to his participation in the Olympics, while Lionel Messi hasn’t been fully fit this season and played through minor niggles before succumbing to injury lately.
Celta Vigo, on the other hand, had started the season poorly, losing their opening 3 matches, although two of them were against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. They have since turned things around and are unbeaten in their last 3, drawing one and winning two. They will know the difficulty of the task on their hands, but will have to approach the match with a positive frame of mind with Barcelona possibly suffering from fatigue after a draining match against Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany, where they would consider themselves slightly lucky to come away with a 2-1 win.
A Messi-less Barça is always a less frightening proposition but they, nonetheless, possess enough game-changers to be able to come away with a win.
T4O’s PREDICTED BARCELONA LINE-UP VS CELTA VIGO (4-3-3)
DEFENCE
Marc-André Ter Stegen will start in goal and will look to repay the faith shown in him by the Barça team management who let go of Bravo and decided to hand over the mantle to the German. Sergi Roberto has come into his own this season and looks the part of being Dani Alves’s rightful successor. Pique will line-up at centre-back with Javier Mascherano partnering him due to an injury to summer signing Umtiti. Jordi Alva will be his super-adventurous self at left-back.
MIDFIELD
Sergio Busquets has to banish the thoughts of an underwhelming performance in midweek and will set himself up at the base of the midfield. The two slightly advanced midfielders will be Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic. They will look to provide the creative spark from the deeper midfield areas.
ATTACK
Neymar will line up on the left-flank and will be looking to cut in and add to his tally for this season while his partnership with Suarez will also be crucial in the absence of Messi. Arda Turan is likely to replace Alcacer and his good form will come in handy for Barcelona.
