Villarreal's guard of honour for Barcelona is a potential trap
Barça look to continue their incredible unbeaten run to the end of the season while Villarreal have their own ideas about the importance of picking up Camp Nou points.
On Wednesday evening there is more LaLiga action and champions Barcelona will finally be given their guard of honour at the Camp Nou thanks to Villarreal. But does the Yellow Submarine have ulterior motives for doing so?
A tribute with an objective
Javi Calleja, manager of the club from the province of Castellón, confirmed that this tribute would be offered by his players, but within the azulgrana celebrations they will be trying to get the upperhand on the night. Barça still have something to play for as they attempt to finish the season unbeaten, becoming the first team to achieve it in the history of LaLiga, but Villarreal too could do with some points as they strive to seal European qualification.
It would seem that Ernesto Valverde will shuffle his pack for this game, at least from the bench, and not like before to keep legs fresh, but instead to put some saleable assets in the shop window. As the club look to spend big again in the summer, the likes of Paco Alcácer, André Gomes, Denis Suárez and Aleix Vidal among others may be used to bring in funds. Not all of them are available for tonight but nonetheless where an opportunity arises to showcase their abilities Valverde is expected to take it.
Ups and downs towards Europa League
Villarreal arrived in Barcelona late on Tuesday looking good: cool, calm and convinced of what they can achieve. They know that their goal of qualifying for the Europa League is still not complete. After some early season challenges, including a change of manager in October, it would now be a huge disappointment if they did not make it. Their fans watched as they came through a horrible February of six defeats, one draw and just one victory, but in recent weeks have enjoyed three wins and a draw as they close in.
Three days after the controversial Clásico, Barça and Villarreal will catch up on their postponed fixture thus bringing them onto the 36 games of their rivals. Important objectives remain for the two teams, and today at Camp Nou Villarreal will offer a guard of honour...but could it be a potential trap.
The game kicks off at 20:00 CEST and you can follow it all live, including details of the guard of honour, with AS English.
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