Malaga vs Barcelona Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jan 19, 2016 @ 01:25 am

Next Saturday, 23rd of January 2016, a super motivated Barcelona will travel to Andalusia to measure forces with Málaga at La Rosaleda for Round 21 of the Spanish Liga BBVA.

After easily overcoming Granada at Camp Nou two weeks ago, Barcelona have extended their good home streak hammering Athletic Bilbao by 6-0 last Sunday. A hat-trick from the usual suspect Luis Suárez and an extremely solid overall performance from the team allowed the maintenance of the two points difference to the league leaders Atlético Madrid with one match in hand. Last Sunday, Barça had a staggering ball possession percentage (77%) and had more than 20 goal attempts. Luis Enrique seemed once again to have placed the team back on track and the arrivals of both Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal have definitely improved the team’s game.

Before next weekend’s predictably complicated match at Andalusia against Málaga, Barcelona will once again go head-to-head with Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés for the first-leg of the Copa del Rey Quarter-finals.

For the match against Málaga, Luis Enrique will not be able to rely on the contribution of Gerard Piqué, who is currently suspended. Rafinha and Jordi Alba will also miss the match due to injury.

As for Málaga, Los Boquerones’ undefeated streak ended abruptly last weekend after their defeat in the Andalusia derby against Sevilla. Málaga have been undefeated for a month at La Liga but after a draw at Gran Canaria with UD Las Palmas, they weren’t able to overcome their neighbours and rivals of Sevilla last time out. A second-half goal from the versatile Brazilian forward Charles wasn’t enough for Javi Gracia’s men to defeat Sevilla, who have scored twice in the first-half by Kevin Gameiro.

Málaga have won their last two home league matches against two teams from the upper part of the table, Atlético Madrid and Celta de Vigo, and they will surely give Barcelona a hard time next Saturday.

The Ivorian defender Arthur Boka, who was sent off last weekend, Flávio Ferreira and Juan Carlos, who are still sidelined due injury, will all miss out there.

Málaga

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LDWWW

Barcelona

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WWWWD

Possible Line-ups

Málaga (4-2-3-1) – Ochoa - Rosales - Albentosa - Weligton - Duda - Camacho - Recio - Castro - Fornals - Charles - Cop

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Vidal - Vermaelen - Mascherano - Mathieu - Busquets - Turan - Iniesta - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Injury List / Suspended Players

Málaga - Flávio Ferreira (inj) - Juan Carlos (inj) - Kameni (in doubt) - Boka (sus)

Barcelona - Rafinha (inj) - Jordi Alba (inj) - Piqué (sus)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions