Barcelona are chasing a sixth straight La Liga win away at Cadiz on Saturday with a 3-2 first leg lead over Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals ahead of next week's return leg in Catalonia. The home side beat Granada 1-0 last time out, but relegation looks possible despite a recent upturn in form after an awful spell between September and March. Mauricio Pellegrino's men have beaten Atletico Madrid too so Xavi and his players have been warned ahead of this one with Celta Vigo in sight if they can pull off another unexpected win.
Cadiz have beaten Barca before so it is not impossible to consider a surprise result and next week's UCL return legs will certainly be a factor for the Blaugrana. The defending Spanish champions are unbeaten since late January across all competitions and have won their last five games with three in the league including a win over Atleti last time out in La Liga. Leaders Real Madrid are still eight points ahead but that could be whittled down to five depending on results this weekend.
El Clasico is on the horizon so Barca must win here to keep their bitter rivals Real within reach as Xavi's turnaround nears completion with a UCL semifinal in sight and an improved title challenge to Los Blancos. The Catalan giants are strong on the road with 30 points from 14 outings and no defeats while Cadiz are tough to beat on home turf with just four losses all term.
Here's our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
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How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, Apr. 13 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla -- Cadiz, Spain
- Watch: ESPN+ and Fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Cadiz +333; Draw +260; Barca -125
Team news
Cadiz: Romingue Kouame, Maxi Gomez, Fede San Emeterio and Luis Hernandez are all out so expect to see Alex Fernandez in for Kouame. Pellegrino should otherwise keep the team which beat Granada with Chris Ramos expected to continue with Juanmi up top.
Potential Cadiz XI: Ledesma; Carcelen, Chust, Fali, J Hernandez; Navarro, Alcaraz, Alex, Sobrino; Ramos, Juanmi.
Barcelona: Gavi and Alejandro Balde are out but Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Andreas Christensen returned against PSG. Christensen is suspended next week with Sergi Roberto so expect to see both here while Barca have three players banned against Cadiz with Inigo Martinez, Joao Cancelo and Robert Lewandowski unavailable. Hector Fort, Joao Felix, Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez could feature so expect to see Pedri's minutes managed with Paris next week in mind.
Potential Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Fort; Fermin, Roberto, De Jong; Raphinha, F Torres, Felix.
Prediction
Despite an expected rotated XI, Barca should just about edge this one although Cadiz will make life hard for them. Pick: Cadiz 0, Barcelona 1.
