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After the 5-3 home defeat to Villarreal, one might imagine that Barcelona’s hopes of winning the La Liga title this season had been dashed. But recent effects have renewed confidence that an impressive comeback is still possible. Barca won their match against Osasuna, and last weekend, while Real Madrid and Girona dropped two points at home, Barca won 3-1 at Getafe.
And everything had to give way at the top of the table this weekend as well, as the two best teams met at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Real Madrid won 4-0 and moved five points clear of Girona.
Barça now have the chance to bring order to the most sensitive area of the table when they face Granada on Sunday night at the Estadi Olimpic (21:00 CET). The Andalusians are second from last position with only two wins all season, so on paper, it will be a victory for the house of the regime. But nothing can be taken for granted. After all, Granada is a team that Barça have not been able to beat in the last 4 games.
In the first match at Los Cármenes, Granada led 2-0 after an hour, with both goals scored by Bryan Zaragoza, who has since left for Bayern Munich. Lamine Yamal restored hope with a goal just before half-time, and then substitute Sergi Roberto. He made it 2-2 with a brilliant goal with five minutes remaining. In fact, Barca looked to have pulled off another stunning comeback when Ferran Torres scored right at the end, but a debatable offside ruling ruled out the potential winner.
Two seasons ago, despite being relegated, Granada drew 1-1 in any of their games against Barca, and the season before, a team that had never drawn at the Camp Nou pulled off a wonderful 2-1 win in the Catalan capital. , a result that ended any hopes of winning the Blaugrana league title.
In fact, Barca have failed to beat Granada in their last five attempts in 90 minutes, as a dramatic Copa del Rey quarter-final in 2021 also ended in a draw, with the Catalans leading 5-3 after extra time.
As always, find comprehensive facts about kick-off times and stations on each continent in our must-have “when and where” guide.
Barca have managed two wins in a row in La Liga despite an alarming number of injuries, but this week there has been glorious news with the announcement that goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and striker Raphinha have been named in the squad for Sunday’s match after recovering from their respective injuries.
İlkay Gündoğan has some muscle problems, but he can also play, but Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Marcos Alonso, João Félix and Ferran Torres are still injured.
And there is an additional complication: despite Barça’s appeal against the excessive severity of the red card shown to Vitor Roque last weekend, the protest has been rejected and the Brazilian will have to witness it from the stands.
Granada, who recently set a La Liga record by signing no less than ten new players in the winter transfer window, have a lot of problems to solve. Raul Fernandez, Jesus Vallejo and now Lucas Boye are injured, while Gonzalo Villar and Kamil Piatkowski are suspended. .
On the eve of the match, the FC Barcelona coach said that Granada are “a difficult team that wants points” and that “they have taken a step forward in defence and are more aggressive” under new coach Medina.
He also spoke about his players, highlighting their “commitment to the team”, as is the case of Oriol Romeu who needs to play even if he is not one hundred percent, before making a song of praise to the youngsters.