Next Sunday, 31st of August 2014, Barcelona will travel to the Comunidad Valenciana to face Villarreal at El Madrigal for the second round of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

After a disappointing last season, Barcelona seem to be back to the good old days as they put up a fairly quality performance against Elche at Camp Nou last Sunday. Luis Enrique’s boys, who were forced to play for a great deal of the match with only ten men, since Mascherano was sent off on the 41st minute of the first-half, displayed their dominance over a fragile Elche side that never had the ability of putting Claudio Bravo’s net to the test. The Blaugranas’ Asturian manager opted for his typical 4-3-3 with both wonderkids, Rafinha and Munir, alongside with “remastered” Lionel Messi up at front. The versatile Argentinean forward seems to be back on his horse, as he added two goals to a vintage performance during last Sunday’s match.

Despite the fact of playing against a fairly inferior rival, Barcelona’s game seemed to be very different from what we witnessed last season. Long periods of ball possession, a renewed passion among the players and a completely different attitude towards the match are probably the most valuable assets of the “new” Barcelona of Luis Enrique so far, in strong contrast with the sometimes tedious performances from last season.

For the difficult travel to El Madrigal next Sunday, Barcelona’s head coach will still not be able to count on the contribution from Suárez, who is still suspended, and from Ter Stegen, Vermaelen and Neymar, all of them sidelined due to injury.

As for Villarreal, the new season could not have started in a better way as they granted a convincing win at the home of their neighbours Levante. The Yellow Submarine sunk Levante’s uninspired armada with two goals without response and if it wasn’t for the fine performance by the locals’ goalkeeper, Jesús, the match’s outcome could have been scandalous.

Villarreal have been enjoying a particularly positive moment recently as they scored fourteen goals in their last five matches and ended up by winning all of them. The team’s manager, Marcelino Toral, who is doing a fantastic job by the way, implemented a fairly attacking game at Villarreal this season and the players seem to be enjoying.

When both teams met at El Madrigal last season, Barcelona granted a 3-2 win on a spectacular and intense match that Messi decided on the 83rd minute. Although one might consider the Blaugranas as favourites for next Sunday’s match, one cannot rule out this super motivated Villarreal as they will certainly present a very demanding challenge to the “new” Luis Enrique’s Barcelona.

Villarreal

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

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Barcelona

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

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Possible Line-ups

Villarreal (4-4-2) - Asenjo - Rukavina - Victor Ruiz - Gabriel - Jaume Costa - Bruno - Manu Trigueros - Cheryshev - Cani - Uche - Giovani

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Dani Alves - Piqué - Mathieu - Jordi Alba - Busquets - Iniesta - Rakitic - Rafinha - Munir - Messi

Prediction

Villarreal 1 Barcelona 1