Villarreal CF (3rd, 35pts) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 43pts)*
*Standings at the time of writing
Competition/Round: 2025-26 La Liga, Matchday 17
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Pedri, Dani Olmo (out), Andreas Christensen (doubt)
Villarreal Outs & Doubts: Logan Costa, Ilias Akhomach, Pape Gueye (out), Willy Kambwala, Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth, Dani Parejo, Santiago Mouriño, Thomas Partey, Sergi Cardona (doubt)
Date/Time: Sunday, December 21, 2025, 4.15pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 3.15pm GMT (UK), 10.15am ET, 7.15am PT (USA), 8.45pm IST (India)
Venue: Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal, Spain
Referee: Javier Alberola Rojas
VAR: Valentín Pizarro Gómez
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Premier Sports 1 (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Premier Sports Player (UK), FanCode (India), DAZN (Spain), others
Following a comfortable win over third tier Guadalajara to book a spot in the Copa del Rey Round of 16, Barcelona return to action for their final game of 2025 as the Blaugrana face a monster La Liga test against third-place Villarreal at the Estadio la Cerámica on Saturday afternoon.
The Blaugrana come into this one looking for an eighth consecutive league victory to go into Christmas with a healthy lead at the top of the table. Even after Real Madrid’s win on Saturday against Sevilla, Barça can still go into the holiday break with a four-point advantage in first place before they face a stretch of massive games in four different competitions in January.
But picking up all three points this weekend is far from a simple task: Barça will face the other in-form team in the league, with the Yellow Submarine coming into this one unbeaten in seven and winners of six straight in the league against quality opponents, the type of run that has turned Villarreal into real title contenders.
There is something incredibly funny about Villarreal’s season, however, and that’s the Jekyll and Hyde nature of their results: Weekend Villarreal is an absolute monster, having won their last six games played on a Saturday or Sunday; Midweek Villarreal is one of the worst teams in Europe as of late having won just one of their last seven, a run that includes four straight losses in the Champions League and a shocking Copa del Rey exit against Racing Santander earlier this week.
Barça will face Weekend Villarreal, so the logic says they are in for one of the toughest tests of the season at La Cerámica (forever El Madrigal in our hearts). That is always the case when Barça face the Yellow Submarine away, even though they’ve been really successful in this fixture having won their last six in the league and not tasting defeat since 2007.
Despite the positive results in the Blaugrana’s favor Villarreal always provide a real test when facing Barça at home, and Marcelino’s team is especially built to create Hansi Flick’s side problems with their pace and skill on the wings and up front. They are facing a major injury crisis ahead of this one, though, with three players already ruled out and six others very likely to miss out.
Marcelino admitted in his pre-match press conference that his squad is “hanging by a thread” from a fitness standpoint, and they’ll welcome the two-week holiday break more than any other team in the league. They have just enough players to put up a fight from the start, but the lack of depth on the bench could prove crucial in the second half if Barça manage to weather the expected early onslaught from a Villarreal team that is always really aggressive in the opening minutes at home.
Barça will be without Pedri but otherwise have a pretty strong squad available, with many of the starters rested in the Cup win in midweek. Their strong form and clear progress as a team since the Chelsea defeat makes them favorites for this one, but even a wounded Villarreal team cannot be counted out. Especially on the weekend.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Martín, Balde; Eric, De Jong; Yamal, Raphinha, Rashford; Ferran
Villarreal (4-4-2): Júnior; Navarro, Marín, Veiga, Pedraza; Buchanan, Comesaña, Parejo, Moleiro; Pépé, Ayoze
PREDICTION
I’m expecting a really strong start from Villarreal and maybe even a goal (or possibly two), but the home team might not have enough energy to sustain the pressure and I can easily see Barça dominating the second half and closing out the year with another good win: 4-2 to the away team.
