On Sunday, February 14, Barcelona FC hosts Celta de Vigo in week 24 of the Spanish Primera Division. The game will be played at the Camp Nou stadium in the city of Barcelona and is scheduled to kick off at 17:30 BST.
The hosts currently lead the league standings with 54 points from 22 games, while the visitors are in 7th place, with 35 points from 23 games.
The title chasers will retain their position at the top of the league regardless of the outcome of this fixture. The visitors can climb to 5th place with a win in this game, while a defeat can leave them no lower than 8th position.
Record breaking BarcelonaBy drawing their recent Spanish Cup game against Valencia, the Catalans have now extended their unbeaten streak to 29 games, breaking the club record 28 games set in 2010/11 under Pep Guardiola. With the team scoring for fun and routing opponents, it is difficult to see any team stepping up to stop the Spanish giants.
The league leaders, managed by Luis Enrique, are in excellent form, winning four and drawing one of their last five games in all competitions. This winning streak includes league wins against Athletico Madrid (2-1 on January 30), and Levante (0-2 on February 7). They have also been dominant in the Spanish Cup, beating Athletic Bilbao (3-1 on January 27), and Valencia (7-0 on February 3).
The only recent game which the treble holders have failed to win was the draw against Valencia in the reverse leg of their Spanish cup tie (1-1 on February 10).
Celta Vigo unlikely victoryCelta Vigo were immense in the reverse leg earlier in the season, stunning their more illustrious opponents with a 4-1 score line. Their form has slumped since then, and they will find a repeat of that result hard to come by this time around.
The Sky Blues, managed by Eduardo Berizzo, are in poor form, with one win, two draw and two defeats in their last five games in all competitions. This single win was against Athletico Madrid in the Spanish Cup (2-3 on January 27).
The underdogs have drawn consecutive games against Sevilla, once in the league (1-1 on February 7), and once in the cup (2-2 on February 11). They were defeated by Las Palmas in the league (2-1 on January 31), and Sevilla in the Spanish Cup (4-0 on February 4).
In the absence of Nolito who was unplayable when these two teams met earlier in the season, Celta Vigo will need Iago Aspas and John Guidetti to step up at the home of the best team in the country, if they are to get any sort of positive result from this game. With 20 goals in 21 games, Luis Suarez is right in line for the Pichichi award, and will be hoping to get a couple more goals in this fixture.
Celta Vigo are a decent team, short of form at the moment, but I can’t see past Barcelona at the moment. The Catalans to win this game by a comfortable margin.