Barcelona – Real Sociedad: 26th January 2017

Barcelona was certainly the favorite in this qualifying double header. Neymar’s goal, scored from the penalty spot in the first half of the match round, puts the Catalans in an extremely favorable position. They need at least a draw to qualify for the semifinals. Basques come to Barcelona must mark. Unfortunately for them, have not had too pleasant experiences at Camp Nou, but will hope that everything will change on this occasion.

Real Sociedad comes after a 1-0 win against Celta Vigo’s. The success has placed him in an excellent position in the rankings, the Basques are fighting for a Champions League place. The same result in this game would send the game into overtime, but the guests are still lacking basic people, like Carlos Martinez and Mikel Gonzalez. Instead, Asier Illarramendi should be on the ground after being suspended in the last game.

Iniesta and Rafinha did not play in the last match of Barcelona due to injury. In addition, Luis Enrique has new headaches. Busquets left the playing field 10 minutes into the game by Eibar. He suffered an injury in a foul made by Gonzalo Escalante. They were suspected ligament problems, concern is visible in Barcelona camp. Busquets was always a man of thought system based in Barcelona coaches in recent years. Enrique said afterwards that the injury is not so serious as originally thought, but in his absence Sociedad match will be important. Rakitic, Arda Turan, Sergi Roberto and Javier Mascherano could play in place of Busquets. That was precisely the basic position Argentinean, before he switched to Guardiola either.

Barcelona won the first leg a rare victory in Anoeta. The Catalans had won not on the field in 2007. Sociedad at the Nou Camp is a different story. Barcelona won all the matches against Real Sociedad at home this millennium. Real Sociedad has not scored more than one goal per game on the ground Barca, while hosts often fail to enroll four or five times. The most recent match played here was ended with the score 4-0, in November 2015.

Barcelona has the result of her tour, but not the kind of team that sit under the shelter of an advantage fragile, especially in front of their fans. Messi and company will play as usual, and as team lately was an excellent one. Luis Suarez, who turned 30 years old this week and could make a nice gift hat-grabbed a goal in this match. Surely teammates will try to serve it.