Barcelona vs Granada Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jan 04, 2016 @ 01:46 am

Next Saturday, 9th of January 2016, Barcelona, who dropped to the second place of the league table after last weekend’s draw, will measure forces with relegation/threatened Granada at Camp Nou for Round 19 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

Barcelona were never defeated at Cornellà El-Prat in the Catalan derby against Espanyol, but last weekend’s draw represented a huge blow to the team’s confidence. Barça were in some way surprised by Espanyol’s game intensity throughout the entire match and revealed once again several problems back in defence. Luis Enrique’s team had, nevertheless, several chances to score, but the post, the crossbar and also Pau López prevented Barcelona from claiming the three points.

The draw at the Catalan derby and Atlético Madrid’s narrow home win over Levante pushed Barcelona to the second place of La Liga’s table, two points behind the Colchoneros, but with one game in hand. Next weekend, Barça will have a good opportunity to make amends with their supporters when they host Granada at Camp Nou. For that particular match, Luis Enrique will still not be able to rely on the services of Rafinha, who remains sidelined due to a long term injury. On the other hand, Douglas, is back in training after a long absence because of a broken foot.

Before the clash against the Andalusia team, Barcelona will go head-to-head with Espanyol once again, for the first-leg of the 1/8 finals of the Copa del Rey.

As for Granada, the Nazaries got an extra boost on their motivation after overcoming their neighbours and rivals of Sevilla for the Andalusia derby last time out. Granada put up an overall quality performance and relied on the inspiration of Nigerian Isaac Success, the talented Venezuelan youngster Adalberto Peñaranda and on the safe hands of their goalkeeper, Andrés Fernández, who helped the team to claw their fourth win of the season.

For next weekend’s extremely complicated trip to Camp Nou, Granada’s head coach José Ramón Sandoval is still not certain if he will be able to rely on the services of the Congolese forward Thievy Bifouma, who is currently sidelined with a stomach virus.

Before next weekend’s match at Catalunya, Granada will play at Mestalla against Valencia for the first-leg of the 1/8 finals of the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - DWWWD

Granada

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WLLWW

Possible Line-ups

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Alves - Pique - Mascherano - Jordi Alba - Busquets - Rakitic - Iniesta - Neymar - Suarez - Messi

Granada (4-1-3-2) – Fernández - Foulquier - Babin - Mainz - Méndez - Rubén Pérez - Krhin - Rico - Rochina - Success - Peñaranda

Injury List / Suspended Players

Barcelona - Rafinha (inj)

Granada - Bifouma (in doubt)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions