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The reigning La Liga champions taking on one of the three newly promoted sides -- on paper it would appear a straightforward match, but tonight's game promises to be anything but straightforward. FC Barcelona need a win to force a final day showdown with Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou, but the Blaugrana have been inconsistent as of late. Factor in their struggles away from home and Elche's incredible home form and you have all the ingredients for an intriguing encounter.
Elche like to "play football" so to speak, which may play in Barça's hands. Certainly it did when Elche visited the Camp Nou in January -- even without Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets, the hosts ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. How Culés would give to see a repeat performance tonight.
It's taken a miracle to get back into this La Liga title race -- we can't throw it all away at the very first hurdle. So yes, Elche will be tough, but that's no excuse. With the quality we have in our squad, there are no excuses.
Even with an impressive home record, Elche struggle for goals and that's encouraging given the strength of our attack. While they may be unbeaten at home in nine fixtures, they haven't really faced anyone of note in that streak. So let's look past the form book and get behind our boys -- let's set up a bumper final day clash with Atleti.
Predict the score of tonight's meeting between FC Barcelona and Elche CF by commenting with your prediction below. Best of luck!
