Match preview: Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon

Match preview: Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon

Spanish champions Barcelona could be down in third position in the La Liga table by the time that they take to the field in the Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon encounter on Saturday night.

Match preview: Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon

The Catalan outfit recorded a thumping 8-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna during the week to keep hold of first spot in the standings, but title rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will both play before the leaders in Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon match on Saturday afternoon.

The reigning champions only lead second-placed Atletico on the head-to-head record, however, while Real Madrid are just a point behind in third. Los Blancos will take on Rayo Vallecano on Saturday afternoon, before Atletico welcome Malaga to the Vicente Calderon.

In all likelihood, Barcelona will have dropped to third place by the time kickoff rolls around against Sporting, but another victory would see them return to the summit with three games to play in Spain’s top championship.

Next weekend, Barcelona will travel to Real Betis, before welcoming Espanyol again on May 8. Their league campaign will then end away to Granada, before finally taking on Sevilla in the final of the Copa del Rey at the end of the month. A domestic double might still happen for Enrique’s team, but they will have to do it the hard way in the final weeks of the campaign.

Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar were all on the scoresheet against Deportivo, and the attacking trio will fancy their chances of improving their goal tallies further against a struggling Sporting team this weekend.

Barcelona have also been particularly strong at Camp Nou this season – winning 14 of their 17 league matches on home soil. They lost their last home league match to Valencia, but it would rather be a big surprise if Enrique’s squad did not collect all the points this time around.