Barcelona v Real Sociedad preview: Neymar suspended for Barca
Saturday 15 April 2017 20:12, UK
Barcelona will be without the suspended Neymar as they look to keep their La Liga title challenge alive at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 3 HD from 7.30pm.
The Catalans crashed to a 3-0 defeat at Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in midweek.
That came after their hopes of catching Real Madrid at the top of La Liga suffered a serious blow with a 2-0 loss at Malaga last weekend.
To compound matters, forward Neymar has been suspended for three domestic games after sarcastically applauding a referee following his red card against Malaga.
With the return against Juve coming next Wednesday, followed by El Clasico the following weekend, Barca need a morale-boosting victory as they host European hopefuls Real Sociedad.
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"We will not give up, we have to fight for everything until the very end," said head coach Luis Enrique. "We want to have a chance of winning the league, and that begins with a win against Real Sociedad.
"We are in the process of correcting the errors we have made and I am sure that the team will show up. The points have to serve as an injection of morale to continue fighting for the title."
Barca head into the weekend trailing leaders Madrid, who face struggling Sporting Gijon on Saturday, by three points having played a game more.
Luis Enrique, however, expects Sociedad to prove tough opponents. The Basque side are sixth in the table and kept their European hopes alive by ending a run of four games without a win by beating Gijon last time out.
"We will go up against one of the toughest opponents in the closing stages of the season for the way they attack and defend. They are a very tough side," he said.
Sociedad's resurgence this season led to speculation linking their manager Eusebio Sacristan with Barcelona last month.
Sacristan denied any interest in succeeding Luis Enrique at the Nou Camp and he remains fully focused on holding off the likes of rivals Athletic Bilbao and Eibar to retain a Europa League spot.
"All of the teams with options of qualifying for Europe deserve respect," Sacristan said. "We're mentally focused on this final part of the campaign."
Sacristan, whose side drew with Luis Enrique's side at Anoeta in November, has warned his side to expect a backlash after Barca's recent difficulties.
"They will be keen to bounce back after the Juventus defeat and the best way to do that is by putting in a good game against us," he said.
"I don't know what will be going through their heads, but we have to be ready to face a strong Barcelona.
"We've done well against Barca (in the past), and known how to stop them. We will need to do all of that and more tomorrow."
