Celta Vigo vs. Barcelona

FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admits he doesn’ t know what could happen to FC Barcelona should the Catalan region of Spain become independent.

Celta Vigo are full of admiration for Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi but know they can not afford to focus only on him when the two in-form sides meet on Wednesday.

The value in backing a home win is further enhanced when one accounts for the fact that Celta were one of only four teams who beat Barcelona in the league last season, triumphing 0-1 at the Nou Camp last November, and only a late Jeremy Mathieu header separated the sides when Barca edged this fixture back in April.

Celta’s bright start to the campaign had been aided by their three previous opponents having a man sent-off early on, but they needed no such help in Andalusia as a brilliant first-half display put them on course for victory.

Barcelona will play two league games in the next six days, and seven matches in all competitions in the next 22 days.

The Blaugrana are in rampant form in La Liga – they’ve won nine of their past 10 matches, something Levante manager Lucas Alcaraz will need to be wary of. It travels to Bilbao to face Athletic, which has lost three matches already.

“He isn’t human because he scored two goals and provided an assist”, Barca boss Luis Enrique joked afterwards, when asked if Messi’s struggles from the spot proved he is fallible. But coach Marcelino Garcia Toral may be without his top strikers when the team plays at Malaga on Wednesday.

Atletico Madrid will open the fifth round by hosting Getafe at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Tuesday looking for a victory to stay close to the leaders.

“We opt for the third place”, he said.

Roma loanee Antonio Sanabria scored twice in the opening eight minutes to get the visitors off to a fantastic start, but the Galicians fought their way back through goals by Juanfran and Luis Alberto, only for Alex Menendez to restore Sporting’s lead 11 minutes before the break.