Match preview
Cadiz will welcome Ronald Koeman and his Barcelona brigade to Estadio Ramon de Carranza in their Matchday 12 fixture. A disappointing start to the season has seen the visitors occupying mid-table and bottom half spots and, on Saturday, they will hope to finally get out of the conundrum with the year fast approaching its end. Under their new Dutch manager, Los Blaugrana have only managed 14 points from a possible 27. While they are two games short of what most clubs have featured in, the club's shortcomings are vividly highlighted in the fact that they have only managed back-to-backs only once this season.
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Cadiz, Barcelona will be poised to grab the win, having defeated Ferencvaros in their penultimate group stage game in the UEFA Champions League. The last time out in La Liga, Martin Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and Lionel Messi all bagged goals in the 4-0 win over Osasuna and they will be hoping that these key individuals put in a good shift to slash their odds of getting close to winning the title once more.
Nevertheless, the opponent they come up against are no pushovers and they have unequivocally made that clear with their performances this season. Having rejoined the league with promotion from the Segunda Division, Cadiz have defied the odds to stage a rather commanding start. The Yellow Submarines stunned Los Blaugrana's bitter rivals Real Madrid earlier in the season and are eager to serve the same treatment to the Catalans on Saturday.
Alvaro Cervera's men sit right above Barca on the league log with 15 points from 11 outings but come into the game without a win in their last three outings. Last weekend, the club could not capitalize on a sending off in the away game against Eibar and ultimately had to settle for one point despite taking a first half lead over Jorge Almiron's men. With Roland Koeman's men present presenting a different level of challenge, they will be required to be on top form to cause any upset.
Key stats
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Cadiz have recorded defeats in their last six La Liga matches against Barcelona. Their last win against the Catalans was in May 1991.
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Barcelona have registered wins in seven of their previous nine away La Liga meetings against Cadiz (D1 L1). They have kept clean sheets in five of the last eight matches.
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Cadiz have amassed 15 points from their first 11 La Liga games this season - their biggest tally at this stage of a season in their last seven top-flight campaigns.
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Barcelona not manage a win in their last three away La Liga matches (D1 L2). The last time they had a worse record was in March and May 2008 under Frank Rijkaard when they were without a win in four or more games.
Team news
Cadiz's Juan Cala and Jose Mari are ruled out of the clash with Barcelona as they are yet to recover from respective injuries. Meanwhile, Alvaro Negredo, Augusto Fernandez and Anthony Lozano should be welcomed back into the starting lineup after recent spells on the sidelines.
For Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti, Ronald Araujo, Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto and Ansu Fati are all recuperating and should play no role in the upcoming test.
Predicted starting XI
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Cadiz: Ledesma; Carcelen, Mauro, Fali, Espino; Garrido, Alex, Jonsson; Perea, Negredo, Sanchez
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Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Dest, Mingueza, Lenglet, Alba; De Jong, Busquets; Pedri, Messi, Coutinho; Griezmann.
Broadcast information
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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