Barcelona vs. Cádiz, La Liga: Team News & Predictions,

 

Barcelona vs Cádiz, La Liga: Team News, Match Preview

Barça welcomes their archrivals in search of a victory to maintain their comfortable advantage at the top of the standings.

FC Barcelona (1st, 56 points), will play  *Cádiz CF (16th, 22 points) 

2022–23 Competition/Round La Liga, Day 22 of Play

Barcelona Outs & Questions: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembélé, and Pedri (out)

Cádiz Joseba Zalda, Jon Ander Garrido, José Mari, Alfonso Espino, Victor Churst, Juan Cala, lvaro Negredo, David Gil, and Sergi Guardiola are outs and question marks (out)

Date: February 19, 2023, 9 p.m. CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8 p.m. GMT (UK), 3 p.m. ET, 12 p.m. PT (USA), and 1.30 a.m. IST (India, Monday)

Location: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain's Spotify Camp Nou

Pablo González Fuertes is the referee.

José Luis González González is the VAR.

ESPN Deportes (USA), Not Available (Canada), Viaplay Sports 1 (UK), Sports18 (India), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), and others can be found on television.

Online streaming options include ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), and others.

Following a thrilling draw against Manchester United in the Europa League, Barcelona returns to action on Sunday Night Football, welcoming relegation-threatened Cádiz to the Greatest Stadium on Earth for some La Liga fun.

Barça has legitimate reasons to believe they should have won on Thursday, and despite the result, they are still in with a chance in the second leg at Old Trafford. The night, however, cost the Blaugrana their most creative player, Pedri, who suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out until the March international break.

It's a big blow during a crucial period of the season with big games in three different competitions, but a lot of faith was placed in Xavi Hernández last summer to deal with this exact scenario and still keep the team competitive even with key players injured.

It's a big ask for the manager, who had a difficult night against Manchester United and needs to show he can be part of the solution rather than the problem when it matters most, something he has yet to do as Barça manager. The season has been overwhelmingly successful thus far, but it could all come crashing down if the coach does not maximize his team's chances of winning the upcoming big games.

However, Barça's run in La Liga has been exceptional, and if they win against Cádiz, they will remain eight points clear at the top. On paper, it's the leaders versus a relegation candidate, but the reality is that Cádiz are Barça's bogey team, having kept two clean sheets and won both league meetings last season.

Barça did, however, dominate their first matchup this season, winning 4-0 with a strong second half performance in September. But Cádiz made things difficult in the first period, and they'll stick to their usual strategy against the Catalans: sit back deep, concede all possession, slow down the pace as much as possible with tough, physical defending, and hope for a miracle on the counter and/or set pieces.

It's worked in the past, and they're hoping that the upcoming trip to England will distract Barça enough to allow for another upset. The Blaugrana cannot afford any lapses in concentration and must end the game as soon as possible if they are to avoid any drama in this one.

Cádiz will be without several of their best players due to injury or suspension, but they will still be difficult to beat and have the potential to shock the Catalan capital. But if Barcelona is serious and focused, even without Pedri and Dembélé, they can win and not suffer at all.

                            POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Ter Stegen, Roberto, Kounde, Christensen, Balde, Kessie, De Jong, Gavi, Raphael Lewandowski, and Fati are the Barcelona (4-3-3) players. Ledesma, Carcelén, Hernández, Fali, Arzamendia, Bongonda, Escalante, Alcaraz, Ocampo, and Roger are the Cádiz (4-4-2) players.

                               PREDICTION

Cádiz, despite all of their absences and their current place in the table, just knows how to make life miserable for Barça, and they will do so for 90 minutes. Yet, I still think the home team will find a way to win: 2-0 for the good folks.