Betis vs Barcelona Prediction & Betting Tips - LaLiga

Prediction published on 06/02/2020, 09:33  by James | Modified on 06/02/2020 at 10:33 in LaLiga Prediction

Playing their first La Liga game since the fallout from Eric Abidal's interview developed, Barcelona travel to Real Betis. La Blaugrana are second in the table, three points behind bitter rivals Real Madrid. Betis, meanwhile, have the quality (and the time) to stake a claim for a European place but currently lie 12th in the table. This will be the first time they line up against former coach Quique Setien since he stepped down from his managerial post at the end of last season. For Setien, the Barcelona post is a dream job - but it's not without its complications. The latest in-house crisis involves Lionel Messi taking umbrage with the aforementioned comments of his former teammate Eric Abidal. Now sporting director, Abidal claimed that certain players didn't work hard enough under former boss Ernesto Valverde. Messi hit back with an Instagram post imploring him to name names instead of tarring everyone.

How this crisis will affect performances on the pitch remains to be seen. At the time of writing, Setien has won four of his five games in charge yet there are concerns over how many chances Barca give away. Two clean sheets from five is a patchy record. Setien has an ageing squad down to its bare bones. Missing players due to injury, they have less than 20 first-teamers at their disposal. They still have Messi though; he may be fired up for this fixture. Betis are very beatable right now, failing to win five of their last six league games. The only relatively recent win over Barca they can boast was when they had Setien on the sideline; otherwise, the wins go to Barca and the scorelines resemble a hockey scoreboard. Betis have the quality to test Barca and have found the back of the net in their last three games against the reigning champions. Back Barca to win and both teams to score.