(Football news) Last week Barcelona suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. The defeat was even more damaging considering the fact that the Blaugrana had a 1 goal lead coming into the game. Now Barcelona will look to put all that behind them to secure the La Liga title. On Saturday, Real Madrid lost 3-2 at home to Villarreal which gives Barcelona a chance to go 15 points clear on top of La Liga with 10 games to go. They will face 11th placed Girona who are looking to make a late dash for the European spots. Girona are coming into this game after a late 2-1 win over Espanyol.

Barcelona are still without Ousmane Dembele, Pedri, Andreas Christensen and Frenkie de Jong who are all injured. Xavi may make a couple of changes in his line-up following the defeat against Madrid. Jordi Alba could come back into the starting line-up in place of Alex Balde while Sergio Busquets is also likely to start on the bench.

Girona on the other hand will be missing Borja Garcia, Joel Roca, Alexander Callens, Yangel Herrera and Ibrahima Kebe due to injury. Real Madrid loanee Renier Jesus is suspended for the clash after he was shown a red card for dissent while on the bench against Espanyol. The good news for them is that Aleix Garcia has returned to training and is likely to play a role in this game.

Barcelona have a chance to secure the La Liga title with plenty of games to spare. This will be a massive confidence booster for Xavi who is on the verge of signing a new deal with the club. This is the first step in rejuvenating the club while the next step will be to do better in Europe. Lionel Messi’s return is looking more and more likely now and it should happen if the FFP rules allow it. Right now without any distractions Barcelona will be hoping to stitch a winning run together to win the La Liga for the first time since 2019.

Also read: Atletico Madrid close the gap on 2nd placed Real Madrid