As Barcelona faced 12th placed Sporting Gijón, there seemed to be little doubt that the Blaugrana were the clear favorites. With Barça last losing to Gijon back in 1994 under the legendary Johan Cruyff, the tone for how this match was going to progress, was easy to imagine.
With Lionel Messi and Samuel Umtiti being injured, Luis Enrique's squad selection against his good friend Abelardo was a curve ball, picking a XI that on paper could play a 4-3-3, but ended up operating as a 4-4-2. While the backline was easier to predict in terms of who played where, the midfield lined up in an interesting four-man set up with Rafinha operating on the right flank ahead of Sergi Roberto and Arda Turan ahead of Lucas Digne.