How Barcelona Will Line Up Against Villarreal

It's back to business in La Liga this weekend and Marcelino brings his "Yellow Submarine" Villarreal to town on the back of a stunning 13-0 friendly win.

Whilst Barcelona were dismantling Celtic at Camp Nou in the Champions League, Giovani Dos Santos was running riot in his sides' defeat of Mitra Kukar. The Mexican bagged four, including a hat-trick in the last six minutes of the game.

It's a real confidence booster for the team, placed a respectable fifth in the La Liga table and with the best defensive record in the league apart from Barca and Atletico Madrid.

Clearly they are not a team to be underestimated by Tata Martino and his players.

Fortunately for the manager, the performance against Celtic was majestic. Per fcbarcelona.com, Martino himself told reporters he was very satisfied with the outcome:

"

It was one of the most complete games we’ve played. There was good pressure, intensity and we played well.

He [Neymar] needed a couple of minutes to adapt from his position on the wing to the center. The goal gave him confidence and from there he showed his repertoire.

I’m amazed at his level of commitment to the team, it’s strange in players that are as good as him.

"

On the basis of Wednesday's experiment, Martino would be foolish to remove Neymar from the central-attacking area. The Brazilian has shone in the role before now without ever having added the goals that his play deserved.

All of that changed on Wednesday as Neymar turned in a five-star showing, a hat-trick just reward for his efforts.

Expect both Alexis Sanchez and Pedro Rodriguez to partner the youngster in attack, Sanchez in his preferred right-sided slot.

In the midfield, Bruno will offer the sternest test to Barca's pass masters. As whoscored.com identify, the visiting captain is enjoying a stellar season.

Only Roberto Trashorras and Xavi Hernandez have racked up more passes than Bruno, and he will be integral to the system that Marcelino employs.

With the return leg of the Copa Del Rey expected to be a foregone conclusion next week, Martino will play as strong a team as able, to keep the chasing Madrid sides at bay. Therefore a rested Andres Iniesta and Xavi will take up the usual positions with Sergio Busquets anchoring the midfield.

Defensively, Dani Alves is still training alone and will not be fit in time for this game. Martin Montoya will therefore continue as deputy and is starting to show—as did Marc Bartra—that with games comes confidence. The right-hand lines look a lot more solid these days.

Gerard Pique and Bartra will need to be on their toes against the returning, and in-form, Dos Santos. He and Ikechukwu Uche will be on the hunt for goals in a lineup full of attacking intent.

Jordi Alba will delight the home crowd with a timely return to action, his raiding down the left channels bringing some verve and spark to proceedings.

Jose Manuel Pinto, of course, continues to deputise between the sticks.