After a disappointing defeat in the UEFA Champions League to AS Monaco, FC Barcelona return to La Liga this weekend and will be looking to maintain their winning form in the league against a difficult Villarreal side.
Villarreal are currently the joint second-placed team in La Liga, along with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, as they all have 11 points after five league games, four behind Barcelona who have 15 points.
Thus, this game can have significant implications for the league standings of both these teams. Meanwhile, as SPORT has noted, there will be another very interesting battle taking place on the pitch.
Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal are currently the two top scorers in La Liga, as they have four and three goals to their names respectively. The latter of these players, Yamal, is also currently on a scoring streak.
Against Villarreal, they will be facing the goalkeeper that has made the most saves in the league up to now, i.e., Diego Conde. After having arrived from Leganes last summer, the goalkeeper has made the most saves in the regular season, i.e., 20. His average in five games thus comes up to be four saves per game.
The Spanish shot-stopper has also conceded eight goals up to now and is yet to keep a clean sheet. However, he has still shown his ability to help his team in difficult situations multiple times now.
To compare his performances, Ter Stegen has made nine saves in La Liga up to now, the same as Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, both registering an average of 1.8 saves per game.
Other notable goalkeepers who following Conde are Karl Hein from Real Valladolid who has 19 saves in five games and the former Barcelona goalkeeper Jasper Cillesen (Las Palmas), Orjan Nylan (Sevilla), and Joan Garcia (Espanyol) with 18 saves each.
