Barça vs Leganés: Preview

The leaders hope to return to winning ways in the league with a tricky game at home

Barcelona (1st, 76pts) vs Leganés (12th, 36pts)

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Competition/Round: 2017-18 La Liga, Matchday 31

Barcelona team news: Sergio Busquets, Lucas Digne (out, injured), Aleix Vidal, Yerry Mina (out, ignored)

Leganés team news: Alexander Szymanowski (out, injured), Diego Rico (out, suspeneded), Joseba Zaldua, Martín Mantovani (doubtful, fitness)

Date/Time: Saturday, April 7th, 2018, 8.45pm CET (Barcelona), 7.45pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2.45pm EST, 11.45am PST (USA), 12.15am IST (India, next day)

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Referee: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea

How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Sky Sports Football (UK), SONY TEN 2 (India), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), others

How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), Sky GO (UK), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)

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After a very bad performance and a very good result against AS Roma in the Champions League, Barcelona are back in La Liga action with what promises to be a tricky game against Leganés. They aren’t the best team in the league and they’ve been crazy inconsistent all season.

They do save their best matches for the big teams, however, and they knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey to prove it. They’re safe from relegation and have nothing to lose at Camp Nou, so prepare to see them playing without fear and going for the win.

Barça have to play a lot better than they did against Roma just to build some confidence for what’s likely to be a Champions League semi-final, which will be against a top European team. Let’s see if they do.

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POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-4-2): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Dembélé, Paulinho, Rakitic, Coutinho; Messi, Suárez

Leganés (4-3-3): Cuéllar; Bustinza, Muñoz, Siovas, García; Gabriel, Gumbau, Eraso; El Zhar, Beauvue, Ramos

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PREDICTION

This has HUGE “Trap Game” potential, so I expect Barça to not be at their best but still win without much trouble: 2-0 to the leaders.