PREVIEW | Cádiz v FC Barcelona

Following Wednesday's majestic 3-2 victory at the Parc des Princes, and with the second game against PSG to come next Tuesday at the Estadi Olimpic, attention returns to the domestic front this Saturday with a trip to the Nuevo Mirandilla, home of struggling Cádiz.

How it stands

A fortnight has passed since the last round of Liga matches, in which Barça scraped through 1-0 against ten-man Las Palmas, while Real Madrid and Girona also won their respective fixtures, meaning no major changes at the top of the table. Real Madrid remain eight points clear of Barça, while Girona are two points behind in third.

This time Barça, whose game starts at 9pm CEST, will have the benefit of knowing what both their direct rivals have done. Real Madrid's 6.30pm CEST fixture away to Mallorca will have just ended, while Girona face a tricky visit to Atlético Madrid in the day's early start at 2pm CEST.

Cádiz in trouble

At least on paper, this is a very winnable game for the defending Liga champions. Cádiz are third from bottom in the table, and although there was a spell when the Andalusians were something of a bogey team for the blaugrana (who failed to beat them in four consecutive attempts) those ghosts have been condemned to the past with wins in the last three games, with Barça scoring eight goals and receiving none in reply.

Last season's visit to Cádiz ended in a triumphant march to a 4-0 victory for Xavi and his men, while the meeting in Barcelona earlier this present season ended 2-0 thanks to goals from Pedri and Ferran Torres.

However, after a frightful run of 23 games without a single victory, Cádiz have won two of their last three (against Atlético Madrid and Granada), raising optimism among their fans that they may yet avoid the drop back into the second division. Beating Barça may be a tough challenge, but it's not something they haven't done before.

Barça, meanwhile, will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in the competition to ten games in the knowledge that in eight days from now they will have the chance to seriously cut down the gap at the top of table when they go head-to-head with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Team news

Xavi was delighted to welcome back both Frenkie de Jong and Pedri from injury against PSG, and both those midfielders demonstrated that there magic touch is very much still intact. That means the only absentees through injury are Gavi and Alejandro Balde, neither of whom are likely to be back until next season.

However, Xavi is going to have to deal with no fewer than three yellow card suspensions. João Cancelo, Robert Lewandowski and Iñigo Martinez are all unavailable, while it remains to be seen when the coach will consider further rotations with Tuesday's showdown against PSG in mind.