Barcelona will welcome Cádiz to the Montjuic for the first home game of the season. It's more or less uncharted waters for the home side, who'll be playing in a stadium that's a far cry from the majesty that is the Camp Nou. There are many reasons to make this a good one, one of which is the first game against Getafe.
In a contest that showed everything that's wrong with La Liga, Barcelona could only escape with a draw, when they should've won. Xavi's men had their own faults too as well. It was a little stumble on their route to retaining the league title, but they'll want to set things right this time as they face an opponent not too dissimilar from the previous one.
Cádiz had a good start to their campaign, however. A narrow win over newly promoted Alavés would've granted the Andalusians some confidence as they come to Barcelona. They've had experience beating the hosts and they could draw from that, but it'll take a herculean effort to pull an upset at the Montjuic.
INTERESTING STATS
- Barcelona have won four out of the last eight matches played between the two teams, as opposed to Cadiz's two victories.
- After a winless run of four matches against Cadiz in La Liga, Barcelona have won each of their last two and kept a clean sheet both times.
- Barcelona have dropped points in two of their last games against Cádiz
- Barcelona have managed to win only one of their last five matches in the competition.
- Cadiz are winless in their last five matches away from home in La Liga
Last five meetings
Barcelona 2-0 Cadiz
Cadiz 0-4 Barcelona
Barcelona 0-1 Cadiz
Cadiz 0-0 Barcelona
Barcelona 1-0 Cadiz
TEAM NEWS
Barcelona
At first, we thought the team survived the Getafe onslaught, only to learn that Ronald Araujo suffered a hamstring injury days later and will be out for up to a month. He joins Iñigo Martinez on the sidelines; the latter is actually close to full recovery and maybe available within a week.
This opens that door to one of Sergi Roberto or Eric Garcia. Marcos Alonso is yet to be registered for this season. Marc Andre TerStegen, Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen and Alejandro Balde should maintain their positions in the lineup.
Will Xavi retain the four man midfield or shift back to three? Oriol Romeu and Frenkie DeJong are sure to retain their positions. One of Pedri or Gündoğan may or may not be sacrificed to the bench.
Raphinha will serve his suspension, same with Xavi. Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati and Ez Abde will all push to be in the starting XI and join Lewandowski.
Cádiz
Gonzalo Escalante will serve his suspension. The summer arrival was sent off last time out and will miss this fixture through suspension.Brian Ocampo, Sergi Guardiola and Victor Chust are also unavailable through injury.
It's expected that Sergio Gonzalez will retain the same lineup that started against Alavés.
Isaac Carcelén, Javi Hernández , Luis Hernández and Jiménez Jarque are expected to shield Jeremias Ledesma in goal.
Iván Alejo, Darwin Machís, Federico San Emeterio and Rubén Alcaraz will form a compact midfield. Chris Ramos and Roger Martí will support each other in attack.
Where and when are Barcelona vs Cadiz playing?
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Stadium: Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys
Date: Sunday 20 August
Kick-off Time: 18:30 BST / 13:30 ET / 10:30 PT
Referee: Alejandro Muniz Ruiz
VAR: TBD
Cadiz know what it takes to frustrate Barcelona. The hosts however, will be ready for that and should be able to do enough to grab their first win of the new season in their new home.
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