As the great Sir Alex Ferguson once said, it’s squeaky bum time in the Spanish La Liga. Defending champions Barcelona hold a precarious one-point lead against arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of the league table heading into the final round of fixtures. The Catalans will look to clinch their 24th league title this coming Saturday when they lock horns with Granada in what will surely be a tension-filled clash at Los Cármenes.
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this pivotal clash and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of Real Madrid vs. Deportivo.
Granada stretched their unbeaten run in La Liga to two matches with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Sevilla on Sunday. It was a critical victory for the Nasrids as that guaranteed top-flight survival for them. They are currently 16th in the league table with 39 points to their name.
Key to Granada’s resurgence has been the excellent form of Youssef El-Arabi. The Moroccan is 13th in the league in scoring this season with 16 goals. He scored a late penalty against Sevilla that sealed the victory for the Filipinos.
Things are bound to get tougher, though, for Granada as standing in their way this coming weekend are red-hot Barcelona. The Catalans have outscored their opponents, 21-0, during their four-match La Liga winning streak. To make matters worse for the Nasrids, they have lost 15 of their last 17 league games against Barcelona and have won just one of their last eight league meetings, a 1-0 triumph in April 2014.
For Granada to dent Barcelona’s title aspirations, they will need to find a way to stop the in-form Lionel Messi. The Argentine superstar is third in the league in scoring with 26 goals to his name. He has also dished out 16 assists this campaign. Messi scored a hat-trick in Barcelona’s 4-0 win against Granada earlier this season. He has scored in five of his eight league games against Granada, grabbing hat-tricks in two of those matches (11 goals in total).
Apart from stopping Messi, Granada will need to find a way to break down Barcelona’s rock-solid defense. The Catalans have recorded clean sheets in each of their last four matches. The onus then is on El-Arabi to step up his play tonight. He has netted more goals in the 2015-16 season than in any other previous top-flight campaigns.
Barcelona extended their winning streak in La Liga to four matches with a resounding 5-0 victory over local rivals Espanyol on Sunday. Luis Suarez scored a double for the reigning champions who moved to within one win of their 24th La Liga title. The Uruguayan has now scored 11 goals in his last four league appearances.
Barcelona will look to grab that all-important victory when they face Granada this coming Saturday. The Catalans will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have fared extremely well on the road this season. Barcelona are second in the league in points scored away from home this campaign with 39. They have scored a league-best 42 goals in 18 matches played on the road this season.
They will be licking their chops at the prospect of facing a Granada backline that has conceded a whopping 28 goals at home this season, second-most in La Liga. Granada are 17th in the league in scoring defense, allowing 66 goals this campaign. Barcelona will surely pick apart that fragile defense as they have scored a league-best 109 goals this season.
