Villarreal are not far behind, though, winning six straight to climb to third in the standings. Marcelino’s side are eight points back of Barcelona, but with two games in hand, they could easily jump Real Madrid in second and a victory on Sunday could put them in position to leapfrog the defending champions.

There were reports in Spain suggesting that Pedri experienced mild pain in his leg, where he was injured in October keeping him out for a month. FC Barcelona and their manager Hansi Flick confirmed that Pedri will not play against Villarreal.