For any football team, this is the best time to play against Barcelona. Barca have a long absentee list, headed by Lionel Messi. The prominent others in sickbed are Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and most recently Victor Valdes. Still, there won’t be many who bet against the Catalan giant when they meet Granada on this Saturday.

The gulf between the two teams is obvious from the points they have scored so far: Barca has 37 points after 13 games, while Granada has just 17 points. Barca haven't lost a Primera Division match at Camp Nou in this season.

Curiously, Granada’s away record is better than their home record. The team has lost just one away match so far.

Barcelona-Granada H2H statistics

Barca has won all the matches it played against Granada in recent times: four out of four. Granada put up a memorable performance when it visited Camp Nou in the 2011-2012 season, even though they lost the match 5-3.

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Almost all Barca stars, who are not injured, will be coming to the match with jet lag after the international break. Alexis Sánchez and Pedro have been more prolific than Neymar so far in the season. It would be interesting to see how Neymar fares in Messi’s absence.

The Cameroon defender Allan-Romeo Nyom is the only major injury concern for Granada. Their main forwards Youssef El Arabi and Piti are in good goal-scoring form too.

Barcelona-Granada Prediction:

Still, they will be hard-pressed to find enough form to stop Barcelona. Even without Messi, they appear too hot for Granada to handle.

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For more information about this match: Barcelona-Granada team comparison