Anything but losing to Barcelona on Saturday evening at Camp Nou seems like a mission impossible for Valladolid. Unfortunately, bookies also realize that Barca is likely to win this game, which is why betting on home win won’t bring you too much cash. So, you might be looking for some other Barcelona vs Valladolid prediction & betting tips? If so, make sure to read this betting preview till the end!
Barcelona
They’re at the top of La Liga table with 6 points more than Real Madrid who are on the second spot. The point gap was even larger just a few weeks ago, but Barca failed to win two previous league games. They played a 2:2 draw with Valencia at Camp Nou, then failed to score any in the game with Athletic Bilbao at San Mames.
And in the meantime, they played another draw. This time in Copa Del Rey. Still, saying that Barcelona are in a poor run would be an overstatement. This team has done so much so far that they can relax in certain games while giving their utmost in important duels.
And one such match is coming their way next week. Just three days after the game with Valladolid, Barcelona players are traveling to France to play a Champions League game against Lyon. Because of that, it won’t be a big surprise if Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde decides to give some of his key men some rest in the duel with Valladolid.
But even if he picks his second-best XI, Barcelona will still be huge favorites in this game. They’re just much, much better than Valladolid and on top of that, they play at home. Camp Nou is the place where Barcelona have won 8 out of 12 La Liga matches this season, scoring a total of 38 goals. That’s 16 goals more than what the second-most prolific team scored.
Valladolid
When they came from Segunda, Valladolid were considered one of the main candidates for relegation. But, five months have passed since Valladolid are back in La Liga and it seems that they could avoid getting back to the second Spanish tier. Actually, they have a chance to get a pretty respectable position at the end of the season.
But, the end of the season is far and they need to continue giving their best in every single game in order to make their dreams come true. Sure, they’ll probably lose to Barcelona, but this doesn’t mean they’ll be traveling to Catalonia with a white flag raised.
The thing is that although the head-to-head score is what counts first when teams are tied, goal difference does play a big part in table ranking. If neither points of h2h scores can separate two teams, goal difference is what decides who goes up. And this can be crucial for teams battling relegation.
Although they don’t allow too many goals, Valladolid have problems with scoring, hence their goal difference is far from impressive. The chances that they’ll score against Barca are minimal, but at least they can defend with all they got.
Team News
Barcelona absentees:
- Samuel Umtiti (injury)
- Arthur (injury)
- Rafinha (injury)
Valladolid absentees:
- Duje Cop (injury)
- Luismi (injury)
Possible Lineups
Barcelona
Ter Stegen – Pique, Vermealen, Semedo, Alba – Vidal, Busquets, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto – Messi, Suarez
Valladolid
Masip – Kiko, Moreno, Moyano, Nacho – Michel, Alcaraz, Keko, Hervias – Piano, Guardiola
Barcelona vs Valladolid Prediction
Barcelona will win this, but they probably won’t hammer the opponent. After all, they need to save their energy for the Champions League. My opinion is that they’ll try to score as many goals in the first half as possible, than have themselves a relaxing second half.
- Barcelona to Win by Nil @1.95 (BetVictor)
- First Half Over 2.5 Goals @1.90 (Unibet)