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Must-win La Liga match for Barcelona against Granada

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IANS Barcelona

FC Barcelona travel to struggling Granada FC Saturday knowing anything other than a win will almost certainly mean the end of their challenge for the La Liga.

The past seven days have seen the Jekyll and Hyde sides of Barcelona's character as they produced a horrible display at home to Malaga to lose 0-1. However, they turned it around in style Tuesday to defeat Manchester City 2-1 away from home in the Champions League, reports Xinhua.

However, although the Manchester City display allowed Barcelona to recover self-esteem after last Saturday's defeat, it is the Malaga game which has most bearing this weekend as it means Luis Enrique's men slipped to four points behind Real Madrid in the title race.

 

Once again Barcelona have to win their games and then hope that somewhere along the line another side will do them a favour and take points of Real Madrid.

First of all, however, Barcelona have to fulfil their part of the bargain, starting with taking three points from the 'Los Carmines' Stadium.

Granada suffered a heartbreaking defeat Monday when it looked as if they were going to cling on for a heroic win away to Levante UD after being reduced to nine men, only for two injury time goals to break their hearts and leave them second from bottom of the table.

Saturday will be an emotional day for Granada goalkeeper Oier Olazabal, who left Barcelona last summer in need of first team action and who has forced his way into the plans of Granada coach, Abel Resino. Oier explained he needed to move to ensure he finally played in the La Liga after seasons defending the goal in Barcelona's B-team.

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First Published: Feb 28 2015 | 11:12 AM IST

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