Next Saturday, 28th of February 2015, a Barcelona hurt in their pride will travel to Andaluzia to measure forces with Granada at Estadio Nuevo Los Carménes for round 25 of the Spanish Liga BBVA. The Catalan will try to return to wins after last weekend’s major stumble at Camp Nou against Málaga but they will certainly need to be at their best in order to overcome a team deeply in need of points such as Granada, who are currently second from bottom at La Liga.

Anyone who saw what Barcelona produced last Tuesday’s night at the Etihad Stadium against the English Premier League champions, Manchester City, could certainly not have imagined that the Catalan side had lost at home to a fragilized Málaga on the previous round of La Liga. It was a fairly uncharacteristic match with Barcelona having an outrageous ball possession percentage but only being able to place five miserable shots on goal. Barça’s overall performance against Málaga was far from impressive and they only have themselves to blame for such sour defeat. It was the second time the Catalan team lost at Camp Nou this season and this time they might indeed have jeopardized their title chances, especially if we have in mind that their closest rivals, Real Madrid, have won their match against Elche.

After such a compromising defeat, Barcelona, nevertheless, managed to lift their heads and grabbed a fantastic win against Manchester City for the UEFA Champions League. Barça completely hammered City during the first-half and went to the break winning by 2-0, thanks to two goals from the erratic Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez. The second-half, however, was not that brilliant and the Catalan team allowed City to get back in the game after Sergio Aguero’s excellent goal.

When it comes to La Liga, Barça’s upcoming match against Granada might turn out to be a bit complicated if we consider the delicate moment the Andaluzia team is currently living at La Liga.

As for Granada, the Nazaries are definitely not going through the best of moments, as they have only won three of the 24 matches they took part in so far this season. After a home draw against Athletic Bilbao and another goalless draw on a friendly match with CSKA Moscow, Granada was defeated once again when they visited Levante last weekend.

The match against Barcelona doesn’t probably come on the best of times for the Andaluzia team, but their urgent need of points will force them to produce something special in order to, at least, steal a point from the Catalan team.

Regardless of that, Barcelona are firm favourites to win the match, since it is not very likely for them to lose two matches in a row at La Liga.

Granada

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - LDDLW

Barcelona

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WLWWW

Possible Line-ups

Granada (4-2-3-1) - Olazabal - Nyom - Babin - Mainz - Foulquier - Iturra - Marquez - Bangoura - Carlos - Cala - Riki

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Bartra - Mascherano - Piqué - Jordi Alba - Busquets - Rakitic - Iniesta - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Prediction

Granada 1 Barcelona 3