Barcelona have endured a difficult start to the season as Ernesto Valverde will be desperately hoping for a win over Villarreal in midweek to boost morale.
The 2-0 defeat to Granada at the weekend ensured that the Catalan giants have now made their worst start to a La Liga campaign in 25 years, having picked up just seven points from their opening five games.
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In turn, they won’t want to see that continue and a win over Villarreal on Tuesday night would certainly help them get back on the right track.
With that in mind, there could be changes to the line-up from the one that faced Granada, as seen in the XI put forward by Sport below.
Sergio Busquets, Arthur and Lionel Messi are being tipped to come back into the starting XI, and given the quality between that trio, that could be a major boost for the reigning La Liga champions in their bid to bounce back.
Messi has been troubled by a calf injury he sustained just before the campaign started, and he has gradually been making his comeback in the last two games.
If the line-up touted below is accurate, that would suggest that Valverde is confident that his talisman will no longer face a threat of a setback and has had enough minutes against Dortmund and Granada to be able to now start a game.
Time will tell if Messi can deliver as he so often has over the years for Barcelona, but with such an influential trio back in the mix it can surely only be a positive thing for them as they’ll want to start building some momentum and put together a winning run to overcome their early struggles.
Probable Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Firpo; De Jong, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Griezmann. (via Sport.)
