Barcelona – Granada

Barcelona will be without Messi for this game, so Neymar is expected to step up and show his leadership and scoring abilities against overachievers Granada at Camp Nou. Alexis is also in amazing form and he should help in the tough task of covering for the argentinean.

Barcelona has played some great football so far, leading the league with 12 wins and 1 draw in 13 rounds. The catalan side seems to have lost a small step in the offensive department however, mainly due to Gerardo Martino`s more pragmatic style and because of Messi`s injuries. Still, they are by no means lacking goalscoring ability, finding the net 38 times in the 13 rounds elapsed. They played a little bit more cautious, but they have more ways to create chances than they did in the past (crosses, long shots). Bottom line is Barca remains a fearsome threat, being arguably better than last season, but from time to time they have off-nights like the 0-0 draw at Osasuna, or the narrow 1-0 home win to Espanyol.

Eight placed Granada has been largely overachieving so far, after a narrow escape from relegation last season. The visitors won 3 of their last 4 La Liga games and have been defending very well (13 goals conceded in 11 rounds). Granada also has a great away record, with a 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in 6 games. However, they are extremely poor up front, scoring only 11 times, the worst offense in the league! While Granada`s standing is impressive, a closer look would leave you feeling that this team is nowhere near as good as their placement suggests. Granada got all their points against teams in the bottom half of the table. Except for a home win against Bilbao (we all know how poor Bilbao is on the road), Granada lost all their games against Top 9 opponents. Having the worst offense in the league is also an indicator that all this team did was to take their chances against similar or weaker opposition. The squad quality is very poor and actually Granada lost a couple of pretty important players from last season.

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Team news & lineups

Aside from Messi, Barcelona will miss Alba, Valdes, Affelay and Cuenca. The catalans also have Fabregas and Tello doubtful, but Cesc should play. Granada can’t count on Campos, Ighalo and Piti, while Benitez and Aranda are doubtful.

Barcelona: Pinto – Alves, Puyol, Pique, Montoya – Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta – Fabregas, Sanchez, Neymar

Granada: Roberto – Diakhate, Murillo, Angulo, Iturra – Yebda, Brahimi, Foulquier – Fran Rico, Buonanotte, El-Arabi

When these two sides met last season on Camp Nou, Barcelona ended up winning the game 2-0. They won all 4 games they played against Granada (all of them since 2011), but never by more than two goals.

Barcelona will be eager to get going after the international break and the reality is that Granada has been far from competitive against top sides. Messi`s absence is a huge blow for the hosts, but it will be mostly felt in the big games. I can’t see Granada scoring today, while their defense will eventually collapse under pressure at Camp Nou. Barcelona is a fantastic home team, they won all games in all competitions on their own turf this season except for a 0-0 draw in the Supercup against Atletico (a result which brought them the trophy). In La Liga, Barca has a goal difference of 21-5 and has often won by 2 or more goals. I rate the visitors as being a hardworking, but limited and overrated side. I can see Barcelona putting at least 3 goals past them today and I find it impossible to believe that there are under 50% chances for this to happen (according to the bookies’ odds). A 2,5 goal handicap is well within the hosts’ reach, Barcelona is in great form and should get an easy home win. My pick for this game is Barcelona – Granada 3-0 / 4-0 and I`m choosing to go with high stakes on this one.

Pick: Barcelona (-2,5)
Odds: 2.26 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 11.34
Event date: 23 November

Editor Facts

• Rostick has a single pick in games involving Barcelona this season (voided, vs. Real)