Celta Vigo – Barcelona, Spanish La Liga
2004-05-08 20.00 CET
Pick: Barcelona
Stake: 2%
Odds: 1,71
1,7% on Barcelona 2,00
0,3% on Draw 3,50
Final reason for bet
On Saturday evening Barcelona will travel to meet Celta Vigo in the Spanish La Liga. All of us that have seen Barcelona the last couple of months know what a great team they have become. They play with style; they score good goals and create many chances. Often their play is a delight for the spectators. Since their latest setback in the league early in January (defeat away against Racing Santander) they have played 17 matches and won 14! This outstanding run has put them back in the title race which was something that looked impossible earlier on. People laughed about Barca back then but now they have shown their disbelievers that they are a great team that should be feared by everyone. Their outstanding player is of course the brilliant Ronaldinho – he can do almost everything with the ball, and scores too. Their opponents on Saturday is one of the underachievers this season; Celta Vigo. Celta Vigo is currently second from bottom in the table and is desperate for more points. With only three more rounds to go they are involved in the relegation battle together with mainly three other teams and two of them will go down. Celta’s form is not good; they have only two victories from their latest ten matches. However, the two victories came in April so maybe the form is rising. Furthermore, Celta Vigo is the worst home team in the league; they have only managed to win on three occasions and they have lost on ten! Barcelona on the other hand has the best away record in the league with eleven wins from 17 matches. Since Barcelona is in great form, with no important players missing and in great need for three more points to still have the chance to fight for second or even the first spot, we believe that they will win again on Saturday. We will go for an Asian handicap that will give us half the stake back if the match ends with a draw. Stake 2%.
General comment about the game
Barcelona played against derby rivals Espanyol last weekend. Barca outclassed their opponents by playing as they have done mostly the latest couple of months. The victory was written to 4-1 and it was as usual a joy to see them play. Barcelona has always has a good passing play but the main difference from now and before is that they are much faster in their attacks. A while ago Barca played like a handball team; they slowly built up their attack and then tried to force their way through the opponents defending wall. Nowadays, they can also attack with speed and this is much due to the arrival of Ronaldinho. Barcelona has a couple of injuries to the team; most important is central defender Carles Puyol who has been sidelined since he got a knock against Real Madrid two weeks ago. He will be sidelined at least one more week. Also young Portuguese midfielder Ricardo Quaresma is missing and he will miss the rest of the season. He sustained his injury in the closing minutes in last game when he came on as a substitute. No other injuries are reported so Barcelona’s coach Frank Rijkaard will have the opportunity to name an unchanged starting eleven.
Celta Vigo played away to Athletico Madrid last weekend. Madrid started best and was 2-0 up already in the beginning after some bad defending in the Celta team. Celta Vigo battled hard and forced their way back into the game and started to push pressure on the hosts. Before halftime the also got their deserved first goal but soon after the two goal cushion was restored. Celta Vigo tried to find ways through the Madrid defensive in the second half but could not manage to score more than once, so the final result was 3-2 to the hosts. Before today’s training there were doubts over the presence of Celta’s important midfielder Gustavo Lopez for tomorrow’s game. A slight injury was discovered after the last game but he seems to have recovered well. Rogerio Vagner is however still sidelined. No other team news are reported.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-05-01 |
Athletico Madrid-Celta Vigo |
3-2 |
|
2004-04-25 |
Celta Vigo-Osasuna |
1-0 |
|
2004-04-18 |
Albacete-Celta Vigo |
0-2 |
|
2004-04-10 |
Celta Vigo-Sevilla |
0-0 |
|
2004-04-04 |
Athletico Bilbao-Celta Vigo |
0-0 |
Recent games for away team
|
2004-05-02 |
Barcelona-Espanyol |
4-1 |
|
2004-04-25 |
Real Madrid-Barcelona |
1-2 |
|
2004-04-18 |
Barcelona-Malaga |
3-0 |
|
2004-04-14 |
Real Betis-Barcelona |
1-1 |
|
2004-04-10 |
Real Valladolid-Barcelona |
1-3 |
Home table
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Celta Vigo |
17 |
3 |
4 |
10 |
14-36 |
13 |
Away table
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Barcelona |
17 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
29-22 |
36 |
Links for this game
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// SportsObserver 040507
