La Liga Preview: Barcelona to return to form against Valencia

Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi [Courtesy]

This week’s Champions League fixtures provided great entertainment as well as a lesson learned for many of the clubs involved in Europe’s most prestigious club tournament.

Lionel Messi the hero

Barcelona seemed to wake up from playing such catastrophic football in the past weeks and made the Wembley Stadium look like the Camp Nou. They scored 2 goals early on against Tottenham and saw the Spurs bring one back with Harry Kane getting on the scoresheet early in the second half, but a brace from Lionel Messi in the second half gave the victory to Barcelona, 4-2. The Spurs fans barely made themselves heard, the Wembley curse may be back on for Tottenham as the players showed no signs of coming back. Barcelona controlled the tempo and will step into the weekend’s match far more comfortably than they have lately. 

Barcelona will play against Valencia in the La Liga this weekend and only OddsShark has the best odds for this match-up. Luis Enrique and his squad will head to Valencia on Sunday, and many are reluctant as to if they are indeed up for the task. The squad has had to endure a hectic couple of weeks of football, having played 2 matches per week, in the Champions League and in the La Liga, it was an indeed an intense month of September. However, his squad started on the right foot with a couple of important wins, including a victory away from home against Real Sociedad, but then fatigue had its way with the team, and they saw a win against Leganes slip from cracks and turn into a defeat, they then drew away to Athletic Bilbao and put their first place in the league in jeopardy, but, while Real Madrid only managed to tie them in the league on points, the Blaugrana are still ahead on goal differential.  They gave a solid performance in Europe, though, as this win against Tottenham will certainly raise the spirits at the Camp Nou.

Valencia will be heading into the weekend with their heads held high after traveling to Manchester United and managing to hold Jose Mourinho and his men to a nil-nil draw in the Champions League. They will be lucky to face the Red Devils at this point of the season, which has been filled with turmoil. Valencia were victorious in their last match in the Spanish top flight, playing away to Real Sociedad, and they also haven’t lost in 5 matches, though, they haven’t won much either, they are currently in 14^th place with 1 win, 5 draws and 1 loss.

Which Madrid will turn up for the weekend match?

Real Madrid are another La Liga side that haven’t been up to their best on the world stage. They play against Alaves on the weekend, and the odds are good for this affair, at OddsShark you can find the best payout for this one. Madrid have seen their form slump recently with 1 win, 2 losses and 1 tie in their last four matches. They suffered a heavy defeat against Sevilla a week ago 3-0 and only managed to tie rivals Atletico Madrid 0-0 at home. Something’s got to give at the Santiago Bernabeu, and it seems that the departures of manager Zinedine Zidane, and star forward, Cristano Ronaldo are weighing heavily against them.

Player of the year, Luka Modric, came on in the second half in their second Champions League match, but it wasn’t enough to salvage something for the Merengues, Real loss away to CSKA Moscow, and that meant that they have been scoreless in 319 minutes to be exact without scoring a goal. French striker, Karim Benzema has had 13 shots, with none of the, being on goal in his last 6 starts. It’s a drought for the ages, but Real Madrid are luckily still neck and neck with rivals Barcelona, trailing the leaders by a slight margin of 4 goals.

Alaves, on the other hand, have started the campaign very well, by their standards. They have won 3 matches, tied 2 and lost 1 in their first 7 games of the La Liga. They will host the current Champions League winners at home on Saturday, and have nothing to lose, as they currently sit comfortably in 7^th place, and would welcome a tie, against a Madrid side that have seen better days, at the Mendizorrotza Stadium, that roughly seats 20,000 Babazorros, as they’re called locally.

La Liga Round 8 Fixtures:

FRIDAY, 5 OCTOBER

(2.15) Athletic Bilbao x Real Sociedad (3.60); draw (3.25)

SATURDAY, 6 OCTOBER

(2.20) Girona x Eibar (3.50); draw (3.20)

(1.72) Getafe x Levante (5.25); draw (3.60)

(8.00) Alavés x Real Madrid (1.40); draw (3.60)

(2.10) Leganés x Rayo Vallecano (3.75); draw (3.25)

SUNDAY, 7 OCTOBER

(1.90) Real Valladolid x Huesca (4.50); draw (3.30)

(1.50) Atlético Madrid x Real Betis (8.50); draw (3.75)

(2.30) Espanyol x Villarreal (3.30); draw (3.20)

(1.53) Sevilla x Celta Vigo (6.00); draw (4.33)

(4.50) Valencia x Barcelona (1.66); draw (4.33)