Deportivo La Coruna vs Barcelona; Spanish La Liga
Deportivo La Coruna vs Barcelona. Spanish La Liga.
RiazorAttendance25,799.
Deportivo La Coruna 2
- L Pérez (40th minute)
- E Colak (64th minute)
Barcelona 4
- P Coutinho (7th minute)
- L Messi (38th minute, 82nd minute, 85th minute)
Deportivo La Coruna v Barcelona preview: Barca's chance to seal title
Watch live on Sky Sports Football from 7.40pm on Sunday
Sunday 29 April 2018 18:40, UK
Barcelona have the chance to seal the La Liga title live on Sky Sports Football on Sunday as they travel to Deportivo.
Head coach Ernesto Valverde had a significant distraction of Andres Iniesta's announcement he would be leaving the club this summer in the build-up to the game - but Barcelona have shrugged off plenty in a season which has seen them snatch a 30-year-old La Liga record for unbeaten matches.
They could have the title wrapped up by the time they face Deportivo at 7.45pm on Sunday night, with nearest challengers Atletico Madrid, 11 points behind with four games remaining, travelling to Alaves earlier in the day and Real Madrid hosting Leganes the day before.
Even if they are victorious, if Barcelona avoid defeat they would guarantee their third league title in four years.
Despite that, there have been questions over the future of manager Ernesto Valverde, after Barca's embarrassment in the Champions League quarter-finals against Roma.
President Josep Maria Bartomeu told El Larguero: "It's his project, we're not talking about it. Someone will have said it, but not the board or the club.
"Nobody doubts Valverde, not after Rome. To recover from defeats, success is assured. A double closes an excellent season."
Deportivo have no such thoughts of success in mind, and could be relegated with anything other than victory, needing to match 17th-placed Levante's result to guarantee their fight goes on.
Team news
Sergi Roberto is banned after his red card in Barcelona's last league game, a 2-2 draw away to Celta Vigo before last weekend's Copa Del Rey final.
Opta stats
- Deportivo have only won one of their last 15 La Liga games against Barcelona (D4 L10); 2-1 at the Riazor last season.
- Deportivo suffered their biggest defeat in La Liga history against Barcelona, 0-8 at the Riazor in April 2016.
- The Galician side are unbeaten in their last four La Liga games (W2 D2); they were winless in their 15 previous La Liga games (D5 L10).
- Barcelona are the first team in La Liga history to go unbeaten in their opening 33 matchdays in a single season (W25 8D).
- Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 20 away La Liga games (W14 D6), scoring in each one and kept a clean sheet in ten of them.
- Lionel Messi has scored 17 goals in his 16 games against Deportivo in La Liga, however, he hasn't scored in his last two games against the Galician side.
- Luis Suárez has been involved in 12 goals in his four games against Deportivo in La Liga (eight goals and four assists). Only against Deportivo has he scored four goals in a La Liga game away from home (April 2016).
- Adrián López has bagged four of the last five Deportivo goals in La Liga and has scored in two of their six games against Barça in the competition (two goals).
- Ernesto Valverde has only won two of his nine away La Liga games as a manager against Deportivo (D3 L4); one for Athletic and the other for Valencia.
- A draw at Riazor will see Barcelona win their 25th La Liga title, and the seventh in the last ten league seasons.
Watch Deportivo v Barcelona live on Sunday from 7.40pm on Sky Sports Football.