Ernesto Valverde says Barcelona need to put an end to their troubles away from home soon with their travel sickness having carried over from last season. The Blaugrana return to domestic action on Saturday at Granada having been lucky to take a point from Tuesday’s goalless draw at Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
That result extended their winless run away from home to six matches, while Barca have won just two of their last 10 games on the road. In La Liga this season, Valverde’s men have lost at Athletic Bilbao and been held to a draw by newly-promoted Osasuna.
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Barca now head to the Estadio de Los Carmenes where they have won their last three matches, while the Andalusians have lost their one and only match on home soil when Sevilla got the better of them in August.
Valverde says it is imperative Barcelona start picking up wins away from home and has challenged them to come out on top at Granada. “Away from home we’ve not been getting good results up to now,” he said. “It’s costing us because even in the game in Pamplona, when we overturned a deficit to lead, we weren’t able to win. We hope to change this dynamic and we hope it happens soon.”
Although they have a wretched record against Barcelona, Granada have won their last two matches at Espanyol and Celta Vigo, putting them on the same number of points as this weekend’s visitors.
The return to action of Lionel Messi will certainly boost Barcelona’s chances of success, the Argentine having come off the bench against Dortmund in midweek having missed the start of the season with a calf injury.
