The visitors have suffered their two biggest of margin defeats in LaLiga against Barcelona, both at Camp Nou, 1-6 in September 2017 and 0-5 in February 2020. Mendilibar’s men will be hopeful they can avoid another crushing loss here.
Jose Luis Mendilibar opts for three changes from Eibar’s defeat at Alaves. Diop joins Alvarez in midfield, while Kadzior, who was expected to miss out through illness, and Soares are the other two brought in by the visitors.
Ronald Koeman is forced into making two changes to his last starting eleven. Lionel Messi, who is nursing an ankle problem, drops out entirely and is replaced by Griezmann. At left wing-back, Jordi Alba misses out through suspension, meaning Firpo starts in the Spaniard’s place.
SUBS: Quique Gonzalez, Recio, Pedro Leon, Unai Dufur, Yoel Rodriguez, Paulo Oliveira, Sergi Enrich, Sergio Cubero, Roberto Olabe, Unai Arietaleanizbeaskoa, Yoshinori Muto.
EIBAR (4-2-3-1): Marko Dmitrovic; Pedro Bigas, Esteban Burgos, Rafa Soares, Alejandro Pozo; Pape Diop, Sergio Alvarez; Edu Exposito, Takashi Inui, Damian Kadzior; Kike Garcia.
SUBS: Sergio Busquets, Riqui Puig, Ousmane Dembele, Carles Alena, Neto, Samuel Umtiti, Phillipe Coutinho, Matheus Fernandes, Inaki Pena, Trincao.
BARCELONA (3-4-2-1): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Clement Lenglet, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza; Sergino Dest, Miralem Pjanic, Frenkie de Jong, Junior Firpo; Pedri, Antoine Griezmann; Martin Braithwaite.
After an underwhelming start to the campaign, the hosts have picked up in recent weeks, winning three of their last four to elevate them to fifth in the Spanish top-flight. In contrast, Eibar currently occupy 17th and have only collected 15 points from 15 matches thus far.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the LaLiga fixture between Barcelona and Eibar.
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