Barcelona vs Real Sociedad, La Liga

“The feeling that I have is that we’re enjoying ourselves out there on the field”, he told the club’s official website.

Real Sociedad will likely be sitting back and playing a lot of defense in this game.

Real Sociedad: Injured – Zurutuza, Zaldua, Jonathas; Suspended – Illarramendi; Doubtful – Raul Navas. We are getting players back fit now, and will have some more [Vidal and Arda] in January.

Barcelona: Injured – Douglas, Rafinha; Doubtful – Mascherano.

Barcelona will be without Sergi Roberto, who picked up a knock against Roma midweek. However, with the appointment of a new coach in the form of former Barça B manager, Eusebio Sacristan, La Real look as though they might be ready to turn a corner.

Thanks to Luis Suarez (eight points) and Neymar (five) goals, Barcelona have claimed 13 out of their 30 points in La Liga this season.

This match falls just a couple of days before a Copa del Rey tie for the Catalan side, as they host Villanovense at Camp Nou during the week, needing to win after sharing a goalless draw with the third-tier side in the first leg, so Enrique could choose to rotate his squad, particularly after two big matches in the last week.

Barca have opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga and have qualified for the Champions League knockout stages as Group E winners.

Real Sociedad find themselves at 14th in La Liga are looking to move away from the relegation zone which is only two points away from Sociedad.

They will have midfielder Arda Turan and full-back Aleix Vidal available in January 2016 when a Federation Internationale de Football Association ban on registering new players expires. They also eased past AS Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday night, beating the Italians 6-1 in a game which saw the return of Lionel Messi into goalscoring form. It also served as the return for Leo Messi as he made his first start since suffering a knee injury against Las Palmas a month ago.