Eibar vs Barcelona Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Mar 04, 2016 @ 03:05 am

Next Sunday, 6th of March 2016, the current La Liga champions Barcelona will visit the Basque Country to measure forces with SD Eibar at Estadio Municipal de Ipurua for Round 28 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

An unbelievable mistake by Rayo Vallecano’s goalkeeper Juan Carlos allowed Barcelona to pave the way to a solid 5-1 win very early in the match. Things complicated even further for the home side when, just one minute later, Lionel Messi doubled the lead for the Blaugranas.

Just before the break, the referee showed a controversial red card to Rayo’s defender Diego Llorente and virtually sentenced the match. The Vallecas team expressed once again their discontent towards the referee’s work when, in the second-half he shown the red card to Iturra after he tripped Sergio Busquets, who was on an offside position, inside the box. Down to nine men, Rayo weren’t able to withstand Barcelona’s attacking game anymore and ended conceding a heavy 5-1 defeat.

Barcelona are on a fantastic run of matches and will certainly not experience any major difficulties on their visit to Ipurua next Sunday. For that particular match, Luis Enrique will have all his players at disposal with the exception of Neymar, who is currently suspended, and Rafinha, who is on the final stage of his knee injury recovery process.

As for SD Eibar, the Basque team have only won one of their last five competitive matches and dropped some places in the league table due to that. An early goal by Fernando Llorente was all it took to inflict SD Eibar with their 11th defeat of the season, but the Basque team has shown great will and determination at Sanchez Pizjuan last time out.

The Armeros’ poor recent run is likely to be extended next weekend, unless they manage to put up a vintage performance that might help them to overcome a strong and extremely motivated team such as Barcelona.

For that particular match, José Luis Mendilibar will not be able to rely on the services of Lillo, who was sent-off at Sanchez Pizjuan and is currently suspended. Borja Ekiza and Jota Peleteiro will also probably miss out there due to injury.

SD Eibar

Stats: W-1 L-4 D-0

Recent Form - LLLWL

Barcelona

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Possible Line-ups

SD Eibar (4-4-2) - Riesgo - Capa - Ramis - Pantic - Junca - Adrian - Garcia - Radosevic - Escalante - Baston - Enrich

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Vidal - Pique - Mascherano - Alba - Busquets - Turan - Rakitic - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Injury List / Suspended Players

SD Eibar - Lillo (sus) - Borja Ekiza (inj) - Jota (inj)

Barcelona - Rafinha (inj) - Neymar (sus) - Rakitic (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions