Barcelona vs. Levante: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info

Barcelona take on Levante in La Liga knowing that a win is almost certainly assured.

Over the course of the last decade, the visitors have always left Camp Nou pointless and indeed, both home and away in that time frame, Lucas Alvaraz's side have failed to beat the Blaugrana, per Fussball Wettpoint.

Current form doesn't bode particularly well for the away side either, who are struggling badly.

Levante have won just twice in the last 14 games in all competitions, per WhoScored.com, both against Malaga. A cup win was in vain as the visitors progressed on aggregate but their best win of the league season by 4-1, which included a David Barral hat-trick, took them off the bottom of the table. 

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

After a run of tough games, Barca might be hoping for a smooth ride in this one. Given their superiority in the fixture, arguably the only way they might not take all three points is if complacency makes another unscheduled appearance.

There can't have been too many people that gave Celta Vigo a hope of earning a first win at the Camp Nou since 1978, but they were fully deserving of the three points earlier this season.

So, there is a precedent already this season that Levante can look to as a template for springing what would be the shock result of the campaign.

Date: Sunday, February 15

Time: 4 p.m. GMT/11 a.m ET

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona

TV Info: Sky Sports 5 (UK only)/beIN Sports 1 (US only)

Live Stream: Sky Go (UK only)/beIN Sports Connect (US only)

Form Lines

Last Five Results

Barcelona	Levante
W 3-1 Villarreal	W 4-1 Malaga
W 5-2 Athletic Bilbao	L 0-2 Athletic Bilbao
W 3-2 Villarreal	L 0-1 Villarreal
W 3-2 Atletico Madrid	L 0-1 Elche
W 6-0 Elche	W 3-2 Malaga

WhoScored.com

Predicted Formations

Give Lucas Alvaraz his due. He isn't tied to any particular formation and often tailors his selections with particular ideas in mind. 

Although he favours a 4-2-3-1, which would certainly give Levante some support in the attacking third, this is likely to be a backs-against-the-wall performance. 

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Levante's last two visits ended in 5-1 and 7-0 victories for Barca so a much more conservative 4-5-1 could be the order of the day.

Barcelona are known to struggle against any team that floods the central areas, thus forcing them to play in the channels throughout.

B/R Formation Builder.

The home side's attacking 4-3-3 has the potential to derail any setup and it only requires any one of the attacking trident to unpick the lock and the floodgates should open.

The pressing game that has underpinned Barca's recent matches has to be in evidence again here as a relentless work ethic will eventually pay dividends.

Player To Watch

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Before last weekend's win against Malaga, Levante had only scored 13 goals all season, which was comfortably the worst of any side in the division.

David Barral's hat-trick aside, if anyone is going to shine in goalscoring terms it will be Victor Casadesus, who has four for this campaign and has led the scoring charts all season long until joined by Barral last weekend. 

Although he's unlikely to trouble Barca's back line in the air, given the right service on the ground, the 29-year-old is an able exponent given time and space.

It's imperative therefore, that his efficiency is curtailed and his influence kept to an absolute minimum.

Key Battle

It's debatable that there will be too many key battles given the superiority that Barca enjoy over their rivals, however, Loukas Vyntra remains the consummate central defender who will drag his team up by their coat-tails if he has to.

He's quite handy at the opposite end of the pitch, too, as Barca have found out in the past.

The experienced 34-year-old has the unenviable task of marking any one of Lionel Messi, Neymar or Pedro Rodriguez, so his hands will be full for the duration of play.

Having said that, Vyntra can make a nuisance of himself by disrupting Barca's flow and if he can get under Luis Suarez's skin in particular, we could see some frustration creep in from the Uruguayan who is working hard for little reward at present. 

Odds

The following pre-match odds are available via our betting partner Odds Shark:

Home Win: 100/1667

Away Win: 22/1

Draw: 11/1