As if we didn’t need reminding, the gap between Real Madrid
and Barcelona is tighter than ever but the Catalans might still be the superior
side and with home advantage they may be worth backing to land the spoils and complete
a hat – trick in the Spanish Super Cup tonight.
One of the biggest factors in our decision is the fact that
Barcelona are at the Nou Camp – They played 30 games on home soil last year,
winning an astonishing 25 of them including that 5-0 demolition job in the first of 6 Clasicos.
The second is that 4 of the last 5 second legs have gone to the home side, 3 of
them being turnarounds from the first leg.
There is also the concern that Madrid haven't scored on three
of their last 4 visits to Barcelona since Guardiola was hired in 2008. While
that should’nt be the case it’s a fairly strong stat in favour of the home
team.
Barcelona were lacking some match – fitness for the first
leg so probably got away with it by not losing after being outplayed for large periods
by Madrid thanks to moments of inspiration from Lionel Messi and David Villa and
they should be much sharper for that, if not more aware as to Madrid’s
pressurising game.
The return of Gerard Pique to add some backbone to the
defence along with Xavi, widely acclaimed as the world’s best player, should go
a long way to helping Barcelona assert their midfield superiority again.
New star Alexis Sanchez seems to fit into the team easily
despite having played few games and will be eager to get into the swing of
things at the Camp Nou, while Abidal is one of the classiest centre backs one
will see and his swaggering style was a joy to watch in Madrid.
While Real Madrid will be disappointed not to have won the
home leg it served as yet more evidence that the gap between the two teams is
still closing and now without an overly physical approach – The likes of Ronal,
Ozil and Di Maria were impressive in supporting the seemingly back to form
Karim Benezema on Sunday and the same approach should be employed tonight,
although it’s
Advice
2 pts Barcelona (20/21 VC Bet)
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