Villarreal injury woes continue as key defenders ruled out for Barcelona clash | OneFootball

This weekend’s big La Liga match sees 3rd host 1st, as Villarreal take on Barcelona at La Ceramica. The two teams have won six and seven league matches in a row respectively, but one of those streaks will be coming to an end on Sunday.

Villarreal, who did not play last weekend due to their match against Levante being called off due to a red weather warning in the Valencia region, come into the Barcelona clash on the back of a disappointing Copa del Rey exit at the hands of Segunda side Real Racing Club de Santander. However, the bad news does not stop there for the Yellow Submarine, who will be without a number of key players at La Ceramica.

As per Marca, Marcelino Garcia Toral will be without up to nine players for this weekend’s clash. Pape Gueye and Illias Akhomach are at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Logan Costa, Willy Kambwala, Santiago Mouriño, Thomas Partey, Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth and Sergi Cardona are injured.

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Cardona and Foyth both suffered muscle injuries in the midweek defeat to Real Racing Club, as was confirmed post-match by Marcelino. It is unclear how long both will be out, but it is guaranteed that they will be unavailable against Barcelona.

Villarreal down to the bare bones in defence

The absences of Mourino, Foyth, Costa, Kambwala and Cardona mean that Villarreal have few defensive options. Pau Navarro is expected to be preferred at right-back to Adri Altimara, while at centre-back, it will be Rafa Marin and Renato Veiga partnered alongside Alfonso Pedraza on the left side on defence.

Aside from those five names, Villarreal do not have any other senior defensive options for Barcelona’s visit. It is far from ideal for the hosts, who would go five points behind the league leaders with a victory (and with two games in hand).