17' OVER! Fati continues to cause problems for the visitors. His cross works its way through to Sergi Roberto, but he can only steer his first-time strike on his left foot over the bar.
14' Fati surges down the left and clips a pass inside for Messi, but the Argentine fails to connect on the slide amid pressure from Gaspar.
11' Alba slides on hard on Chukwueze and is slightly fortunate to escape a booking.
10' Barcelona probe down the left flank once more through Alba and De Jong, but the yellow shirts hold firm amid the danger.
8' Coutinho sends a cross in from the left flank, but Asenjo comes through a crowd of players to clear the danger for the visitors.
6' Messi works the ball into the feet of Alba on the left flank. He tries to cut it back towards Griezmann, but Albiol is well placed to divert it behind.
4' Gaspar raids down the right flank and he floats a cross into the box for Alcacer. He lays it back to Chukwueze, but he opts not to shoot and sees his offload intercepted by Pique.
2' Chukwueze tries to thread a pass through to Alcacer in the final third, but Pique does enough to fend off the forward to allow Neto to gather.
1' We're underway at Camp Nou.
Barcelona have avoided defeat in their last 22 LaLiga games against Villarreal (W16 D6), since a defeat at Camp Nou in March 2008 (1-2).
Emery hands debuts to Coquelin and Parejo in the middle of the park this evening. Alcacer and Moreno lead the line for Villarreal, with Gomez and Chukwueze offering support from the flanks. The backline is solid with Torres and Albiol in the heart of the defence.
Koeman has kept faith with the usual suspects without fielding a debutant in his first line-up. Neto is pressed into action between the sticks due to the absence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who is out with a knee injury. Sergi Roberto gets the start at full-back following the departure of Semedo. Coutinho comes back into the fold after his loan spell with Bayern Munich ended. The Brazilian starts alongside Messi, Fati and Griezmann in a four-man attack. Pedri, Trincao and Pjanic could make their first Barca appearances from the bench.
VILLARREAL SUBS: Ramiro Fuenes Mori, Carlos Bacca, Vicente Iborra, Geronimo Rulli, Manu Trigueros, Takefusa Kubo, Jaume Costa, Lanchi, Alex Baena, Fernando Nino.
VILLARREAL (4-4-2): Sergio Asenjo; Mario Gaspar, Raul Albiol, Pau Torres, Pervis Estupinan; Samuel Chukwueze, Dani Parejo, Francis Coquelin, Moi Gomez; Gerard Moreno, Paco Alcacer.
BARCELONA SUBS: Carles Alena, Miralam Pjanic, Ousmane Dembele, Rafinha, Pedri, Trincao, Junior Firpo, Inaki Pena, Riqui Pugi, Ronald Araujo, Santiago Ramos, Arnau Tenas.
BARCELONA (4-2-3-1) Neto; Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong; Lionel Messi, Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati; Antoine Griezmann.
Villarreal performed well last season finishing fifth in the table, but will have greater aspirations this term with new manager Unai Emery. The club have bolstered their ranks with the signings of Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin to add experience in the middle of the park. Tonight will be a good test of their credentials to se if they can catch a new-look Barca cold on the opening day.
It has been an off-season of transition for Barcelona. Ronald Koeman was hired to replace Quique Setien after the club's underwhelming end to the previous campaign. Lionel Messi was on the brink of leaving Camp Nou before he was convinced to remain at the club. It was not the same story for Luis Suarez, who enjoyed a goalscoring start at his new club Atletico Madrid. Arthur, Nelson Semedo, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal also departed. There's not a great deal of depth available to Koeman, but the expectations of the fans and the Barca hierarchy will remain.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the LaLiga contest between Barcelona and Villarreal at Camp Nou.
