Barcelona take on the visitors Espanyol in the round 15 match of Spanish LaLiga. The match will be played on Saturday, December 31st at Camp Nou (Barcelona).
Barcelona going through a tough period of history. Xavi definitely did not want to history book as a mentor, under whom such a grandee finished playing in the Champions League twice after the group stage. Moreover, until now, the legendary midfielder in a new role at his native stadium has not won a single, even the most modest trophy! If the negative results of 2021/2022 could still be somehow attributed to predecessors, now there is no one to nod at – it’s just that not everything turns out, despite the signing of such stars as Lewandowski and Kunde in the summer (and the list goes on). There was a painful defat to Real, 1-3. But then Los blancos managed to take only 1 point in fights with “Girona” and “Rayo Vallecano”. As a result, Barca received an unexpected gift for the pre-Christmas break, in the form of 1st place. Well, now they need to protect it, and, therefore, only victories are needed.
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Espanyol relatively recently made its way to European competition. But, as often happens, this backfired with a decline: having made it to the playoffs of the Europa League, the “parrots” simultaneously were relegated to the Segunda. There, however, everything worked out, and the team from Catalonia returned immediately and without problems. But the season 2021/2022 brought only 42 points in 38 fights and a modest 14th place. Obviously, they wanted more, and for the sake of progress in the summer they called Diego Martinez Penas. However, Espanyol de facto failed the starting segment of this season, collecting 12 points after 16 fights - despite the fact that the newcomer, Joselu, has already scored 7 goals! It is even strange that even with such a meager indicator, they managed to meet the winter in the 16th position, right above the relegation zone.
The record in the derby is not particularly successful for Espanyol. But still, in both recent home matches with its status neighbor, Espanyol managed not to lose: 2-2 in 2020 and 2022. Bluagrana are well aware that they only need to win - Real Madrid will take advantage of any misfire, so the risk of a misfire should be eliminated. We recommend betting that Barcelona will win with a handicap of “-1.5 goals scored”.
Prediction for the match: Barcelona to win with -1.5 handicap.
