Barcelona have a chance to run out a dominating lead on the rest of Serie A, cashing in their game in hand when they already have a three point lead on second-place Atletico Madrid. Further helping Barcelona’s cause is who they’re facing — they’re making a trip to play Sporting Gijón, a team with just a two-point cushion over the relegation zone.
Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijón 2016 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch online
Barcelona have been dominating every opponent they face, and they’ll be looking to make relegation-threatened Gijón their latest victims.
Gijón aren't a totally hapless side, of course. They've earned several excellent results this season, including holding Real Madrid to a scoreless draw to start the season and upset victories over several teams, including Espanyol and Malaga. While Barcelona are obviously a completely different challenge than either of those teams, you still can't completely count Gijón out before the match even starts — though they're going to have to play their best match of the season so far to get anything out of this game.
Key player — Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
After his hat trick over the weekend, Suarez passed Cristiano Ronaldo to take the lead in La Liga's scoring race with 23 goals. Against a team who have struggled like Gijón have this season, he'll be hoping to pad that total a bit more, and with the form that he and the rest of Barcelona's attack have been in there's no reason to think that he won't.
Key matchup — Sergio Alvarez (Sporting Gijón) vs. Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona)
Alvarez and his quality defensive work in midfield will be vital to try to stem the Barcelona tide, and while he’ll need to do excellent work against any of the midfielders he lines up against, Rakitic will need to be his main focus. The Croatian is Barcelona’s hub of possession, and it will make things tougher on the blaugranes if Alvarez can take him out of the match.
Sporting Gijón injuries and suspensions
Out: Antonio Sanabria, Bernardo Espinosa, Daniel N’di
Barcelona injuries and suspensions
Out: Rafinha
Match Date/Time: Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. ET, 6:30 p.m. local
Venue: Estadio Municipal El Molinón, Gijón, Spain
TV: beIN Sports (U.S. - English), beIN Sports en Español (U.S. - Spanish), Canal+ Liga/HD (Spain), Sky Sports 2/HD (U.K.)
Online: beIN Sports Connect, Fubo TV (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.)
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