Barcelona – Espanyol. Alexander Vishnevskiy’s prediction

The Catalan clubs will meet each other for the second time in five days. A goalless draw at the Cornella stadium marked the first match this season where Barcelona scored nothing. The team of Luis Enrique will have a chance for revenge in the first leg of 1/8 finals of the Copa del Rey. Typically, cup matches are difficult to predict because it’s difficult to predict the lineups. Usually, coaches let key players rest, particularly in the early stages. But this time, the balance of power is clear in general, regardless of what players will be given rest by head coaches Luis Enrique and Konstantin Galcă.

Barcelona will definitely be very focused and will try to do that with a big margin. The difference in class of footballers is too big, so Espanyol won’t avoid the defeat this time. Espanyol were very lucky in the league game. I think this time Barcelona can score all the goals they didn’t score in the last match. Espanyol were greatly exhausted in the last match. Games against Barcelona with their ball control and high tempo are very energy intense for opponents. Espanyol had very little time to recover. Now, the game will be held at Camp Nou. And the judge can’t be as bad as Gonzalez Gonzalez this time.

Now Barcelona have the best bench in last one and a half year (we are not talking about the attack). In defense and midfield they now have awesome opportunities to strengthen the team with subs. This can be the first game for Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan. And Barcelona exactly need the right lateral and attacking midfielder. More to say, Turan can play as a forward. Anyway Barcelona don’t need to save pains because their next game will be not so tough – it’s Granada at home.

So I think that Luis Enrique’s team can win with a huge goal difference. But we should bet not on difference, but on goals. The reason is Barcelona’s Ter Stegen who makes a lot of unbelievable mistakes in goal. And their defense is also not perfect. The odds on over some goals are not so high, but I expect that of all others. So I suggest to bet on Barcelona to win with over 3.5 goals.