Malaga v Barcelona preview: Luis Enrique focused on victory for Malaga trip

Saturday 8 April 2017 19:08, UK

Luis Enrique is solely focused on victory at Malaga on Saturday live on Sky Sports as Barcelona look to maintain the pace at the top of La Liga.

The Catalan side, who were held to a goalless draw by their opponents at the Nou Camp in November, are two points behind Real Madrid and Luis Enrique is focused only on his side's performance as they try to close the gap.

"The league title passes through Malaga. If we don't pick up three points and our rivals do then it will be much tougher for us so we are not looking beyond that," he told a pre-match press conference.

"We have always had problems against them, on an individual level they have a lot of talent and it will be a good test for us it we are to continue in the battle for the league.

"Oddly, they have done so with different coaches - Javi Gracia, Juande Ramos and now they have Michel in charge. I think it is to do with the individual talent they have, the can cause us problems in attack and defence and we have to put in a good performance to overcome that."

Luis Enrique will be without Rafinha, who has been ruled out for four months after undergoing knee surgery, with Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal also sidelined.

Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic will also miss out through suspension, but Jeremy Mathieu is set to return to the side after sitting out the midweek win against Sevilla.

Malaga striker Sandro Ramirez, who moved to La Rosaleda from Barcelona in July, says the match will be a special occasion for him and he is hoping former team-mate Lionel Messi is not at his best.

"We're going to go out there with maximum determination. We'll be playing in front of our fans, our people, at our home. For us, this will be a key match. We're facing the best team in the world, but we have possibilities," he told a pre-match press conference.

"This will be a special match for me as I'll be reunited with my former teammates, who gave me everything when I moved up to the first team.

"Messi? Let's hope he has a bad day, because [it's tough] when he's on form. We're going to go out with a winning mentality and claim the three points. If we do it, we'll make a giant leap forward."

Malaga v Barcelona will be live on Sky Sports 5 this Saturday from 7pm. Sky customers can now upgrade to Sky Sports and get 12 months for just £18 per month. Upgrade now!