Barcelona will be bidding to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight when they welcome Mallorca to Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Friday evening.

The Catalan outfit are currently third in the La Liga table, eight points behind the leaders Real Madrid, while Mallorca occupy 15th position, eight points ahead of the relegation zone.

Match preview

Barcelona made it seven games unbeaten in all competitions when they drew 0-0 away to Athletic Bilbao last weekend, with the result moving them onto 58 points from their 27 La Liga matches this season.

Xavi's side are third in the table, one point behind second-placed Girona and eight from the leaders Real Madrid with 11 games left, so a title challenge is still a possibility in the closing months of the campaign.

Barcelona are unbeaten since Xavi announced at the end of January that he would be standing down as head coach this summer, winning four and drawing two of their last six league matches, and they will be eyeing another victory here before switching their attention to the Champions League.

The Catalan outfit will welcome Napoli for the second leg of their last-16 tie on March 12, with the two teams level at 1-1 from the first leg in Italy on February 21.

All three of Barcelona's league defeats this season have come at their temporary home of Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, but they have dominated their recent games with Mallorca, winning 11 of their last 12 meetings in Spain's top flight, including a 3-0 success in the corresponding fixture last term.

Mallorca, though, did hold Barcelona to a 2-2 draw when the two sides locked horns earlier this season, and Javier Aguirre's side will enter this match off the back of successive victories.

Indeed, the Pirates booked their spot in the final of the Copa del Rey with a penalty-shootout success over Real Sociedad at the end of last month, before recording a 1-0 win over Girona in the league on Sunday.

Copete's first-half effort proved to be enough for Aguirre's team to overcome Girona, with the result moving them onto 27 points from 27 games this season, which has left them 15th in the table.

Mallorca are eight points ahead of the relegation zone and just two points behind 13th-placed Alaves, so they should be looking up the division rather than down at this stage of the campaign.

The Copa del Rey finalists have found it difficult on their travels this term, though, only picking up eight points from 13 matches, which is the fourth-worst away record in the division, and their only success on the road in the league this term was a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo back in September.

Team News

Barcelona were hit with two significant injuries in the clash against Athletic last time out, with Pedri and Frenkie de Jong both forced off the field in the first half of the goalless draw.

There are fears that Pedri could require an operation on his hamstring issue, which would rule him out for the season, while De Jong's ankle injury will also sideline him for an extended period.

Ferran Torres could return from a thigh problem on Friday, but Alejandro Balde, Gavi and Marcos Alonso remain unavailable through injury, while Ronald Araujo is suspended due to the milestone yellow card that he picked up in the clash with Athletic.

Fermin Lopez, Lamine Yamal and Inigo Martinez could come into the starting side for this match, but Pau Cubarsi should retain his spot in the middle of the defence.

As for Mallorca, Pablo Maffeo remains unavailable for selection due to a knee injury, while Omar Mascarell is suspended due to the milestone yellow card which he picked up against Girona.

Samu Costa is expected to be the player to benefit from Mascarell's absence, but it should otherwise be the same side that took to the field for the first whistle against the team currently second in the table.

Vedat Muriqi is set to feature alongside Cyle Larin in the final third of the field, with Abdon Prats on the bench, while Toni Lato is expected to continue as the left-sided wing-back.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Cancelo; Gundogan, Christensen, F Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha

Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Gonzalez, Valjent, Raillo, Copete, Lato; A Sanchez, S Costa, D Rodriguez; Muriqi, Larin

We say: Barcelona 2-1 Mallorca

Mallorca are more than capable of making this an uncomfortable match for Barcelona, and we are expecting Friday's clash to be close in terms of the scoreline. Barcelona need to win to stay in the title picture, though, and we are backing them to navigate their way to an important three points here.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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