Who: Villareal vs Barcelona
What: Spain’s La Liga
Where: Estadio de la Ceramica in Villareal, Spain
When: Sunday, December 21, at 4:15pm (15:15 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on media Sport from 1215 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream. Click here to follow our live coverage.
Villarreal has quietly mounted a potential dark horse title campaign through most of the first half of La Liga.
Now it has a chance to make it official when the “Yellow Submarine” host Barcelona on Sunday.
media Sport takes a look at a game that could blow the Spanish top flight wide open.
The team coached by Marcelino Garcia Toral is in third place, eight points behind leader Barcelona and four behind second-placed Real Madrid. But it has played two fewer games than the powerhouses, so it could easily be in an even stronger position.
Villarreal has disappointed in the Champions League and was eliminated from the Copa del Rey by a lower-division side this week. But La Liga is a different story. Villarreal is on a six-game winning run, and its only two losses have come at Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
Marcelino’s men have also turned their La Ceramica stadium into a fortress, conceding a miserly four goals in eight home matches while remaining unbeaten and winning all but one of those league encounters.
The game will pit the league’s top defence in Villarreal, with 13 goals allowed in 17 games, against the league’s top attack. Barcelona has poured in 49 goals in that time – 15 more than closest challengers Real – and more than made up for a sometimes shaky defence by outscoring its opponents.
Barcelona will look to both quash thoughts of a challenge by Villarreal and close 2025 on a high note this weekend.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
