It’s been a bit of a mixed start to this new season for Barcelona as they prepare for the visit of Real Betis to the Nou Camp on Saturday in La Liga, following the hosts’ success in the Champions League during the week.
A Matchday 3 triumph over Ukrainian outfit, Dynamo Kiev, with a 2-1 win at home handed Barcelona an important three points and also preserved their 100% winning record in the group stage of the competition, so they’ll be in a confident frame of mind for Saturday’s encounter despite recent losses on the domestic front.
After claiming early back-to-back wins in La Liga over Villarreal and Celta Vigo, Barca stuttered immediately afterwards as they lost to Getafe 1-0 away and arch-rivals, Real Madrid, in a 3-1 loss at home in El Clasico, but Ronald Koeman’s side have since recovered again.
A 1-1 draw with Deportivo Alaves in the Spanish top flight has been either side of an impressive 2-0 win away at Juventus and the aforementioned 2-1 win at home over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.
Real Betis have been something of a revelation so far in this season’s La Liga campaign as the visitors currently occupy 7th place and head into this Saturday’s clash at the Nou Camp against Barcelona on the back of a convincing 3-1 home win over Elche.
The visitors have already racked up wins against Deportivo Alaves, Real Valladolid, Valencia and Elche but they’ve tended not to bother in dealing with draws to date this term as they’ve also suffered four defeats as well this season.
Mid-table Elche have been the highest placed losing opponent to Real Betis in 10th place but although, strictly speaking, Barcelona also fall into the category of a bottom half opponent, this may well turn out to be an anomaly at this stage of the season.
Perhaps the biggest indicator as to the likely outcome of this clash lies in Real Betis’s results away from home in La Liga; the visitors have managed to collect just two wins out of their last 16 matches on their travels in the domestic top flight and have failed to score in eight of these.
In addition, Barcelona have won five of the last six meetings against Real Betis and the hosts know they must make up ground. Barcelona to cover the asian handicap line of -1 looks a good chance here.
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