UEFA Champions League continues this Tuesday with a mouth-watering 6th round and plenty of places still to grab for the last 16 stage. Group D will not lack the excitement when the Barcelona hosts Sporting Lisbon in a match that will decide if the visitors will continue their play in the Champions or Europa League. Therefore, read through this preview and get some free betting picks here at Get More Sports.
Barcelona vs. Sporting
Three-Way: 1. Barcelona -213; X: +480 Draw; 2. Sporting +825
Spread -1.5: Barcelona +127, Sporting -104
Total +3: Over -106, Under +104
BARCELONA
Both teams of the encounter are in a quite envious undefeated form. Barcelona didn’t lose the match since the very beginning of the season when they have lost both super cup matches against the arch-rivals Real Madrid. Since then, they are riding 21 matches without a loss across all three competitions (La Liga, Champions League, and Copa del Rey). The Portuguese team, on the other side, didn’t lose in their last 8 matches, with the last loss coming against Juventus, 2:1. Barcelona is already through to the next Champions League stage, topping the Group D with 3 wins and 2 draws. It means that they can play a more relaxing match opposed to their opponent who need a win at Nou Camp to even stand a chance of continuing their Champions League campaign.
In their last Champions League match, Barcelona has rested Leo Messi for a good 60 minutes. But, whoever Valverde sends on the field on Tuesday night, I highly doubt they will not go for a win in front of their fans, especially when they have won only 1 match in the last four outings in all competitions. Last 2 La Liga matches raised many eyebrows as Barcelona played a draw against Valencia (away 1:1) and Celta 2:2 at home. Still, they are sitting comfortably on top of the La Liga table, with 5 points lead over Valencia and, more importantly, 8 points above Real Madrid. In the mid-week match, they swept aside Murcia at Nou Camp with 5 pieces in the visitors net. Now, they want to go back to winning habits.
In the first 5 matches of the Champions League, they have scored 7 goals and allowed one, against Olympiacos. The first match between Barca and Sporting, back in September, finished by a narrow 0:1 win for Barca thanks to Coates own goal. Blaugrana has played in a total of 23 matches this season in all competitions scoring 52 goals and conceding 13 in the process. This is an average of 2.82 per contest. Their record is W16 D5 L2. At Nou Camp, they have played 11 matches winning 9 times while drawing and losing once each. Goal difference at home is 34-8 what makes 3.81 goals on average per contest from which Barca is scoring 3.1 goals.
Unsurprisingly, Messi is the leader of the goal-scoring chart with 17 goals in all competitions (3 in the Champions League). Behind him is Suarez who has netted 6 times (still waiting for the first goal in Europe this season) and is followed by Paulinho and Alcacar with 4 goals each. Messi is also the best assist maker with 6 assists, followed by Jordi Alba 5 assists, Roberto and Suarez 4 assists each and Ivan Rakitić who has assisted for 3 goals so far. Valverde will not be able to count on all of his players as an injury list is filled with a couple of players including Dembele (leg injury), Arda Turan (ankle), Mascherano and Umtiti (both hamstring), Iniesta (calf) while Andre Gomes has just recovered from a thigh injury.
SPORTING
Sporting is on a winning streak of 4 matches in all competitions and is desperate to win the next encounter, non arguably the hardest one. They are visiting Barcelona after they have defeated Belenenses in the Primeira Liga and actually caught up with Porto on the league table. Now they are both at 33 points with a record of W10 D3 L0. In the Champions League, the situation is much more complicated as they are sitting in the 3rd position, 1 point behind Juventus (who is visiting Olympiacos in the last round) and 4 points behind Barcelona. With that being said, Sporting needs to win, at one point would not be enough to advance to the next stage because the Old Lady has the better head to head result. If they win, totally against the odds, they still need Olympiacos not to lose to Juve. Otherwise, they are entering the last 32 of the Europa League, as they already have secured the 3rd position in the group.
Sporting has recorded 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in the European campaign until now with a goal diff. 8-7 what makes exact 3 goals on average per contest. In total, they have played 23 matches with a record of W15 D6 L2 while scoring 46 and allowing 18 goals what makes an average of 2.8 goals per contest. In two Champions League away games in the group they have recorded 1 win and 1 loss with 4-4 goal diff. If we add the playoff match against Steaua Bucurest (1:5 win for Sporting), in those 3 European away games we have a very vivid 4.7 goals on average per contest. If we remember that Barcelona is playing games at home with an average of 3.8 goals, we really can expect unforgettable night.
Bas Dost is the best goal scorer with 12 goals, Fernandes is second with 7 goals and Martin is behind with 5 goals. Acuna is the leader when it comes to assist makers with 4 goals created, and Martins and Fernandes are just behind him with 3 assists each. Jonathan Silva is the only sidelined player for the Portuguese team with a knee injury. Jorge Jesus will have almost a full team at disposal and will do anything to win.
Barcelona – Sporting – Match Prediction
Barcelona will go for a win in this one, as it is the case whenever they play at home. Considering the importance of the game for the visitors, and knowing how much both teams like to score, a reasonable scenario pops up in my head. The visitors will go hard from the start, trying to score an early shocker and upset the home team. However, the hosts will hold their fort and score a couple in the first 45 minutes. The same scenario will repeat in the 2nd half which will be enough to top the total of 3 goals set by the bookies. The visitors might also score a goal in the second half, so additional pick would be to take both teams to score.
MY PICK: Over 3 goals (-106)
Additional Pick: Both teams to score YES (-115)
