Liga – Round 9 – Messi, mortal
By David, BettingExpert.com | Edited
Comparisons with Maradona have been made over and over again but when the pressure piles on, Messi seems light years away from his compatriot. A penalty in the dying minutes against Sevilla. Messi steps up but is disturbed by Kanoute’s antics. He misses and Barcelona lose out on two points. You cannot but feel that Maradona would have held his nerve and been ice cold on that occasion. Is Messi turning into the ineffective, misunderstood version wearing the Argentina jersey?
Granada – Barcelona
Life in the Primera Division is tough. It did not take long for Granada to realize that. On the road they are yet to take any points and although they have earned some respect at home shrugging off that relegation zone aura has been increasingly difficult.
The defeat at fellow relegation candidates Sporting Gijon has jeopardized their position further but there is still time to recover. Hopefully they will not need to count on fixtures such as the one coming up in order to preserve their position in la Liga..
Puyol sat out the weekend match against Sevilla and is expected to be allowed more time for recovery in midweek too. He will be back against Mallorca next Saturday. With Pique also ruled out the Barcelona backline will be a little shaky once again. It will be up to their possession skills to show less of the ball to the opponents. Youngsters Montoya, Cuenca and Bartra have been called up for the trip to Granada.
Verdict: Barcelona -1.5
We will have to wait to verify whether Guardiola will once again experiment with the three-man defence but against Granada I cannot see them slipping up again. They dropped two points against Sevilla and with Mourinho’s troops having marched just ahead they cannot afford to lose out on the three points this time.
Real Zaragoza – Valencia
That was a disappointing Valencia, picking up where they had left off in the Champions League in Germany. Leverkusen proved indomitable when they ran all over Valencia in the second 45 minutes despite the Spaniards proving their qualities in a first half they dominated and for which they had a goal advantage to show for.
Back home they suffered for a whole half against Athletic Bilbao before waking up for the second period, only to concede a goal at the point where they looked like taking control of the match. Banega was one of the few to save from the Sunday match. It was him who inspired Soldado’s goal, the latter applying his magical touch in front of goal to draw level with Bilbao in the final minutes.
Hostile environment at the Romareda for Los Che on their last two visits. A 7-0 score line says how they fully deserved both defeats on those occasions.
Verdict: Real Zaragoza -0.25
Mixed results have come the way of Zaragoza and Valencia this term but feelings have gone in the way of Los Che and Emery now seems to have definitely lost the support of the crowd. La Romareda is one of the worst places for him to visit given the past records.
Real Madrid – Villareal
It was careless how Real Madrid lost their chance to keep hold of the top spot in the league when they lost at Levante when the day before Barcelona had thumped Osasuna at the Nou Camp for eight goals to nil. As the Liga story went along we came to understand how at the Ciutat de Valencia no team will have it its way that easily but still Real Madrid did not apply themselves enough to keep hold of that first place.
Now that Barca has handed them the second place – unusual to speak of that reward being passed on between the two giants but Levante is a persistent intruder at the moment – Mourinho’s laments will be unceasing. Villareal are so low on morale at the moment – incidentally they lost to Levante in a derby match they never looked like recovering during the 90 minutes – that it would be a crime to just give them a tour of the Bernabeu without bagging the full three points.
For the past two seasons it was a double for Les Mergenues and for the past four in the series of this fixture Villareal have always lost, with the goal record being 14-6.
Verdict: Real Madrid -1.5
It’s a hunt for Red October with the Yellow Submarines at the moment. Everybody is having his say against them and after Levante dined until they were full for a deserved 0-3 at the Madrigal on Sunday Real Madrid should be no less of a mean machine and punish them for a fifth victory in a row against them, a fifth in succession at home against Villareal and a fifth consecutive victory in the Liga.
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