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Granada v Barcelona: Cuenca out to down boyhood team

Granada attacker Isaac Cuenca is keen to end Barcelona's La Liga title hopes when he takes on his former team on Saturday.

The 25-year-old came through the ranks of the Barca youth academy, but eventually left the Catalans on a permanent basis in July 2014.

Luis Enrique's men sit atop of the table heading into their final league game of the season, holding a one-point lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid.

"To score the winning goal in the last minute would be perfect, it would be amazing," Cuenca told Sport.

"I don't think my Catalan friends, when I go home, would hold it against me. I play for Granada and I'm sure a lot of them would be happy for me.

"It is not easy to triumph there. I was hindered by a lot of injuries, then loans. At clubs like Barca there is not the same patience as there is at smaller clubs.

"Granada will give a good image of themselves on Saturday and we will make things really difficult for Barca."

"We have to be very strong mentally and we have to realise we have 90 minutes to win the game," Suarez said at a media conference.

"We have already won a lot of games this season and we also know how to suffer in away games.

"We went unbeaten for a lot of games and then all of a sudden lost a number of games, but we have shown that we are still the same team."

 

- Luis Suarez has scored 11 goals in his last four league appearances, from just 14 shots on target.
- Youssef El-Arabi, Granada's top goalscorer in La Liga history (44 goals), has netted more goals in 2015-16 than in any other previous top-flight season (16).
- Barcelona have won their last four league games without conceding, scoring an average of 5.25 goals per game in the process.
- Lionel Messi has scored in five of his eight league games against Granada, with hat-tricks in two of them (11 goals in total).
- Should Barcelona win this game, they would claim the title with 91 points, fewer than in the last four league seasons where they have won the title (99, 96, 100 and 94).