Barcelona vs Leganés Preview: How to Watch on TV, Live Stream, Kick Off Time & Team News
Football's been back for a few weeks now, but let's be honest, it couldn't be declared truly back until Lionel Messi entered the pitch.
He kept it relatively quiet against Mallorca last Saturday - just the one goal and two assists, thank you very much - but the Argentine sorcerer didn't take long to shake off any rust accumulated during football's hiatus, and he and Barcelona will be looking to double down against a struggling Leganés side on Tuesday.
Leganés might be aggrieved to have had the limelight stolen from them in this preview so far, and that's not the only thing that La Blaugrana have nicked from their Madrid-based opposition this season - taking advantage of a somewhat controversial 'emergency extension' to sign top goalscorer Martin Braithwaite in one of the season's most bizarre signings.
Three points is the expectation for table-toppers Barça, and would be potentially transformative for 19th-placed Leganés - if they can keep Messi quiet for that long...
Where to Watch
When Is Kick Off: Tuesday 16 June What Time Is Kick Off: 21:00 (BST) Where Is it Played: Camp Nou TV Channel/Live Stream: LaLigaTV
Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera
Team News
If this clash had been played when it was originally scheduled in March, Barcelona would have looked rather different - and Sergi Roberto, Arthur Melo and Luis Suárez would almost certainly have been absent.
As it is, Quique Setien's men are now in pretty good shape, with only Jordi Alba's suspension and
Ousmane Dembélé's long-term absence following surgery on his hamstring to contend with.
Leganés will be more worried about suspension than injury against Barcelona - in the dying minutes of their loss against Real Valladolid at the weekend, centre-back Dimitrios Siovas and talisman Óscar Rodríguez picked up one-game bans which will rule them out of contention on Tuesday.
In one of the many twists of fate brought about by the stoppage of football worldwide, Alexander Szymanowski may well have a part to play in Leganés' season after tearing his ACL in August, but will probably not be fit enough until July.
Predicted Lineups
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Firpo; Rakitić, Busquets, De Jong; Messi, Griezmann, Braithwaite
Leganés: Cuéllar; Bustinza, Awaziem, Omeruo, Silva; Eraso, Recio, Mesa, Rodrigues; En-Nesyri, Carrillo
Head-to-Head Record
The story of Leganés is a pretty incredible one, with the club which plays its football in front of 12,450 fans (well, 0 fans at the moment) only getting their start in La Liga in 2015 after years of lower league football.
As a consequence, they've faced Barcelona a mere six times, and the majority of those meetings have gone exactly as you would expect, with Barça recording five victories.
However, Leganés' one triumph against the five-time Champions League winners was pretty special, a comeback victory which took place in just over a minute as Nabil El Zhar and Rodríguez cancelled out Philippe Coutinho's early goal to hand Ernesto Valverde his second ever loss as Barcelona manager in 2018.
'Recent' Form
When it came to how Barcelona were getting on right before football took five, everything was pretty breezy with the exception of one enormous blot on their copybook - a defeat against Real Madrid in one of the most low quality Clásicos in recent memory.
Before that, Barcelona had won four straight in the league, since that, they've won two, but you can't help but think that Messi's strange shooting night in Madrid will go a long way towards deciding the eventual league winner, with Real not far behind their bitter enemies.
Leganés, meanwhile, have just one win in their last five games, and didn't exactly look refreshed by their extended break at the weekend against Valladolid - in what was a truly abject defensive display against their relegation rivals.
Strangely enough, they've been pretty decent when the calibre of opposition has been raised - within their most recent eight games high-flying Villareal and Real Sociedad have been conquered, while they even managed to nick a point off Atlético Madrid.
Here's how both sides have fared recently, and not-so-recently, in their last five games.
Barcelona
RCD Mallorca 0-4 Barcelona (13/6) Barcelona 1-0 Real Sociedad (7/3) Real Madrid 2-0 Barcelona (1/3) Napoli 1-1 Barcelona (25/2) Barcelona 5-0 Eibar (22/2)
Leganés
Leganés 1-2 Real Valladolid (13/6) Villareal 1-2 Leganés (8/3)
Leganés 1-1 Alaves (29/2) Celta Vigo 1-0 Leganés (22/2)
Leganés 0-0 Real Betis (16/2)
Prediction
Barcelona aren't anything near the finished article at the moment, but it's unrealistic to expect them to do anything other than blow Leganés away, what with the reigning champions having failed to win in all but one of their home games.
What the home fans are still desperate to see is evidence that a disjointed Barcelona side has turned a corner under Setien, and that they've successfully internalised his Cryuff-influenced style during the break.
Leganés will almost certainly put up some brave resistance to the Catalonian cavalry, but it feels likely that Messi, Griezmann and co. will put on a show on Tuesday night.
Prediction: Barcelona 5-1 Leganés