PREVIEW: Levante v FC Barcelona
Barça head to Levante on Saturday afternoon looking to continue a run of results that has seen them lose just once in La Liga at the Ciutat de València Stadium in the last 14 years.
How to follow the game live
The match kicks off at 4.00pm CET. A list of broadcasters can be found here and these are the timetables for the rest of the world.
The Rival
Stadium: Ciutat de València Stadium
Coach: Paco López
La Liga Record (2019/20): P11 W4 D2 L5 F12 A13
Former Blaugranes in the squad: Oier Olazábal
Interesting stats and facts
Levante have only won two of its 26 matches with Barça in La Liga (2W 4D 20L), both victories achieved at home and by scoring five goals (5-1 in October 1964 and 5-4 in May 2018).
Barça have won 12 of their last 14 games with Levante in La Liga (1D, 1L), scoring 49 goals - 3.5 goals per game on average - and keeping clean sheets in 10 of them.
Lionel Messi has given 13 assists to his team-mates against Levante in La Liga, more than any other team in the competition. In addition, he provided three assists in the January 2014 Copa del Rey game against Los Granotes, the only time Messi has achieved this feat.
Luis Suárez has scored in five of his six matches against Levante in La Liga (five goals), and on each of his three visits to the Ciutat de València Stadium.
Ernesto Valverde has only lost two of his 17 matches as a coach against Levante in La Liga (10W 5D 2L).
Last time we met
A slender 1-0 win for Barça at Camp Nou in April this year came courtesy of Lionel Messi’s 62nd minute goal.
In the last fixture at the Ciutat de Valencià Stadium, Ernesto Valverde’s side ran riot. Five unanswered goals were scored by Messi (3), Luis Suárez and Gerard Piqué.
The squad
Ernesto Valverde named a 19 man squad for Saturday afternoon’s encounter.
The list is as follows: Ter Stegen, N. Semedo, Piqué, I. Rakitic, Sergio, Todibo, Arthur, Suárez, Messi, Neto, Lenglet, Griezmann, Jordi Alba, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Vidal, Junior, C. Pérez and Ansu Fati. Left out are Dembélé, M. Wague and Aleñá with Umtiti still missing due to injury.