Barcelona vs Valencia preview - Iniesta absent for Barca

Posted Friday, April 17, 2015 by PA

Barcelona will be without midfielder Andres Iniesta when they bid to go five points clear at the top of the Primera Division with victory over fourth-placed Valencia on Saturday.

Midfielder Iniesta suffered a bruised pelvis early in the second half of his side's 3-1 Champions League quarter-final first-leg win at Paris St Germain on Wednesday night.

And despite the excitement generated by his side's scintillating win in the French capital, coach Luis Enrique has insisted his side shut out all thoughts of the upcoming second leg at the Nou Camp next week.

Enrique told a press conference: "We are not thinking about the PSG match, we are only thinking about the visit of Valencia.

"It is important with our current schedule that we keep winning and I would call on our fans to help because we are much stronger when they are behind us and inspiring us at the Nou Camp.

"Mentally we will have no problems because the players know if they are not 100 per cent against Valencia things will get complicated, but physically there are one or two things we have to assess."

Barcelona's six-match domestic winning streak came to an end in a 2-2 draw at Sevilla last week but they can extend their lead at least temporarily as Real do not kick off against Malaga until Saturday evening.

But Valencia will visit the Nou Camp in the midst of a 10-match unbeaten run and coach Nuno Espirito Santo told his club's official website: "We saw the match against PSG - it was a great game with a good result.

"What we have seen confirms what we already thought. They don't have many weaknesses, but they do have some."