Real Betis vs Barcelona
Spain – La Liga
Date: Sunday, 7 February 2021
Kick-off at 20:00 UK/ 21:00 CET
Venue: Estadio Benito Villamarin (Sevilla).
All eyes will be on Estadio Benito Villamarin when Real Betis and Barcelona face each other in the La Liga round 22.
Los Beticos showed character in their last league match, with Iglesias scoring a late winner against Osasuna.
🎯👏 @5sergiob
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 6, 2021
🔜 #BetisBarça pic.twitter.com/6cVJoJ84Rk
The Andalusians have been in a fine form in all competitions of late, but they face an uphill task in Sunday’s clash against the Catalan giants.
As always, men to watch in the home team will be fit-again Sergio Canales and Nabil Fekir. Signei is pushing for a start, as well as aforementioned attacker Iglesias.
Barca boss Ronald Koeman, on the other hand, welcomes Sergio Busquets back to the starting XI.
Leo Messi, who obviously committed his future to Barcelona, will be the man to keep an eye on in the away side, while Coutinho, Fati, and Pique remain sidelined with injuries.
Anyhow, away win should be considered as Barca have been showing signs of improvement of late.
Real Betis vs Barcelona Head-to-head (h2h)
Teams Real Betis Barcelona played so far 39 matches.
Real Betis won 8 direct matches. Barcelona won 24 matches. 7 matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches both teams scored a 4.21 goals per Match.
Real Betis vs Barcelona Prediction
Real Betis in actual season average scored 1.54 goals per match. In 11 (78.57%) matches played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 6 (42.86%) matches in season 2021 played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Barcelona average scored 2.19 goals per match in season 2021. In 12 (75.00%) matches played away was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 8 (50.00%) matches played away team was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Team News:
Betis will again be without the services of Victor Camarasa and Dani Martin this weekend through injury, while Claudio Bravo and Marc Bartra remain injury doubts for the home side.
Diego Lainez, meanwhile, is still unavailable, having recently tested positive for coronavirus.
Pellegrini will definitely make changes from the side that started against Athletic in the Copa del Rey, with Joaquin, Emerson, Rodri and Loren Moron all in line to feature, but Guido Rodriguez should keep his spot in midfield, lining up alongside Sergio Canales in the process.
As for Barca, Ansu Fati, Gerard Pique and Philippe Coutinho remain on the sidelines through injury, while Sergi Roberto has suffered a fresh issue and will be absent until at least next month.
Sergio Busquets was suspended against Athletic last weekend but should return to the XI here, having been involved against Granada in the Copa del Rey, while Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann are again expected to feature alongside Lionel Messi in attack.
Sergino Dest and Clement Lenglet were both left out of the starting side against Granada but are likely to return for this match, while in-form teenager Pedri should also continue in the XI.
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Joel; Emerson, Mandi, Ruiz, Moreno; Rodriguez, Canales; Joaquin, Rodri, Fekir; Moron
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Pedri, Busquets, De Jong; Dembele, Messi, Griezmann