Next Saturday, 14th of March 2015, the new league leaders, Barcelona, will travel to the Basque Country to measure forces with the newcomers Eibar at Estadio Municipal de Ipurua for round 27 of the Liga BBVA. The Catalan team changed places with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga’s table last weekend after Los Blancos’ defeat at San Mamés and now have a demanding test against an always complicated team such as Eibar where they need to grab a win in order to cement their position as the new league leaders.

Last weekend, Barcelona didn’t feel the pressure of having to win their home match against Rayo Vallecano after their all-time rivals Real Madrid took a tumble at the Basque Country. Luis Enrique’s boys put up another almost vintage second-half performance and smashed a hopeless Rayo by 6-1 with another hat-trick from the usual suspect Lionel Messi. The Blaugranas opened the score early on the match thanks to a goal from the erratic Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez, whose influence is growing in the team as the matches go by. A single goal advantage was the best Barça managed to get before the break but things became considerably easier after Tito’s red card early on the second-half.

Pundits questioned Luis Enrique’s ability to conduct Barça’s destinies, but the truth is that against all odds, the Asturian manager has everything in place to produce another memorable season for the Catalan team.

For the upcoming complicated travel to Ipurua, Luis Enrique will not be able to rely on the contribution of both his usual full-backs, Dani Alves and Jordi Alba, both sidelined due to suspension. Busquets and Vermaelen will also lose the match due to injury.

As for Eibar, the La Liga’s newcomers are currently not enjoying a good moment at the league as they are on a very negative streak of seven consecutive defeats. Eibar started the season on a good pace but the enormous level of demand of the Spanish football top tier is now starting to cause some damage on team as modest as the Armeros.

The match against Barça does not come at the best of times, but the truth is that Gaizka Garitano’s boys need to do something to put an end to their recent dreadful streak of results.

For the clash against Barça, Garitano will not be able to rely on the services of Angel and Minero, who are both sidelined due to injury, and on Garcia, who is currently suspended.

Despite playing on a traditionally complicated stadium, Barcelona are firm favourites for next Saturday’s match.

Eibar

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - LWDLD

Barcelona

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWWLW

Possible Line-ups

Eibar (4-2-3-1) - Irureta - Bóveda - Ekiza - Navas - Abraham - Errasti - Lara - Berjon - Capa - Del Moral - Lekic

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Bartra - Mathieu - Piqué - Adriano - Mascherano - Xavi - Rakitic - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Prediction

Eibar 0 Barcelona 2