Barcelona have struggled in the first-half of their matches this season, largely drawing a blank in the opening 45 minutes of their fixtures, particularly in La Liga. Eibar on the other hand start fast, on average opening the scoring within the first quarter of an hour of play both home and away. Equally, Eibar are yet to concede in the opening period of play either.
   Andrés Iniesta is back in training and could make his return to the line-up tomorrow .Sergi Roberto is injured and we’re therefore pretty much out of alternatives.Please get your head in the game Suarez, show us that you don’t need Lionel Messi to look good on a regular basis.

LIKELY LINE-UPS

Barcelona (4-3-3):
Bravo; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Rakitić, Iniesta; Munir, Suarez, Neymar

Eibar (4-2-3-1):
Riesgo; Capa, Dos Santos, Pantic, Junca; Escalante, Garcia; Saul, Adrian, Inui; Baston

Iniesta isn't playing today

Iniesta will be on the bench surely but he will play 15-20 mins at best.

It's gonna be Bartra at CB and Busi-Masch-Rakitic again... not that I complain as I like when Bartra is playing but that midfield is only fitting for hoofball

Luis Enrique pre match press conference:

"Eibar will be difficult, like every rival with the added good run they've been on in this start of the season."

"Clasico-fixing claims? I would like it to be thoroughly investigated, to know if it's true or not. I think that'd be harmonical"

"My objective is not to reach the first Clásico at the top of the league table. My objective is to win the league."

"Iniesta needed now that there are several injuries? We always need Iniesta. We'll see tomorrow [today] if he plays."

"Lung cancer Cruyff? Sad news, we wish him lots of strength, I'm sure he'll overcome this, big hug to him."

"We're not in an extreme situation, it's the situation of a big team who has to play every 3 days, there's no need for drama."

"The only thing I'm worried about is that we reach the decisive part of the season in a position to win titles."

"Messi is in the normal process of an injured player. It's been a month, there's another month left, he's improving every day"

"When a player gets injured I evaluate the solutions I can find with my players. I'm not asking for more players."

"Suárez is doing a great job, both with and without the ball. He's also a leader for his way of competing. He suits us great."

"Neymar's best moment at Barça? No, he has been great since he arrived here. He's developing, but that's logical."

"You see Neymar & Luis playing differently because Leo isn't there. But I didn't tell anyone to take on special responsibility"

"The team is improving in every match. We are working to be better in all aspects of the game."

"Tomorrow [today] the important thing is to win, but it's a chance to improve our defense and attack."

linetty wrote:Luis Enrique pre match press conference:

"Eibar will be difficult, like every rival with the added good run they've been on in this start of the season."

"Clasico-fixing claims? I would like it to be thoroughly investigated, to know if it's true or not. I think that'd be harmonical"

"My objective is not to reach the first Clásico at the top of the league table. My objective is to win the league."

"Iniesta needed now that there are several injuries? We always need Iniesta. We'll see tomorrow [today] if he plays."

"Lung cancer Cruyff? Sad news, we wish him lots of strength, I'm sure he'll overcome this, big hug to him."

"We're not in an extreme situation, it's the situation of a big team who has to play every 3 days, there's no need for drama."

"The only thing I'm worried about is that we reach the decisive part of the season in a position to win titles."

"Messi is in the normal process of an injured player. It's been a month, there's another month left, he's improving every day"

"When a player gets injured I evaluate the solutions I can find with my players. I'm not asking for more players."

"Suárez is doing a great job, both with and without the ball. He's also a leader for his way of competing. He suits us great."

"Neymar's best moment at Barça? No, he has been great since he arrived here. He's developing, but that's logical."

"You see Neymar & Luis playing differently because Leo isn't there. But I didn't tell anyone to take on special responsibility"

"The team is improving in every match. We are working to be better in all aspects of the game."

"Tomorrow [today] the important thing is to win, but it's a chance to improve our defense and attack."

u mean logical

Bravo; Alves, Piqué, Bartra, Alba; Busquets, Rakitić, Masch; Sandro, Suarez, Neymar

With that midfield u cant expect to play tiki taka can u.
#bereadyforhoofballs

I was away for 5 minutes and we are already a goal down. This is getting tragic!

Calma, suarez got this!!!

It is not about winning or loosing, it is about us receiving 12-13 goals in 10 league matches! Did we even receive 12 goals the whole last season?

El vampirooooooo

this ref is a joke, but mascherano is also ano idiot for losing his cool.

Masche the Ref whisperer

Suarez

what a performance

this ref!! what an idiot

the whole stadium was telling the ref to go kill himself according to my commentators? lol someone confirm?

Pirloisjesus wrote:Please get your head in the game Suarez, show us that you don’t need Lionel Messi to look good on a regular basis.

el vampiro

@migerucb

In this context, "la concha de tu madre" is an expression of frustration/anger like "me cago en la puta/hostia" It's not an insult at all

I would translate it as "*bleep* hell" I find it hard to believe that a Spanish referee doesn't know that tbf. They heard that in every game



Shit ref.... let Eibars thugs kick Barcas players all night without punishment and crumbled under pressure in crucial moments. You bet he will be picked to officiate the Clasico smh

Fartra embarrassing himself as usual in that Eibar goal. Enrique's fault. The team needs some clean sheets, it's important psychologically. Why play someone who wouldn't even start for Eibar? Glad he realized his mistake and took him off though.

Luis Enrique: "Mathieu for Bartra? We needed to build better from the back."

BURN.

Suarez

How much is scrub Bartra in a scale from 1 to Montoya ?.

Robespierre wrote:Suarez

How much is scrub Bartra in a scale from 1 to Montoya ?.

He is the Montoya of centerbacks. Can we loan him to you?

RM is going to mop the floor with us considering the state of our MF and DF!

eelir wrote:RM is going to mop the floor with us considering the state of our MF and DF!

It's okay as long as Barca can survive Villarreal at home. 3 point gap isn't that bad after the Clasico.

i'll be okay with a 4pt or so gap between us and first place so long as it's in January and we can register + buy new people.
all things considered we are a team heavily filled with injuries and fatique and somehow still tied for first.
mind you we also got an extremely difficult first set of games and most of them all away from home.