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| Real Betis vs Barcelona Match Preview |
FC Barcelona continue their quest to winning a third consecutive Liga title when they travel to Seville to take on Real Betis at the Benito Villamarín hoping to make it six wins from six in all competitions as they look to continue their recent impressive run of form.
Real Madrid are currently top of the the table, 2 points ahead of Barcelona who lie in third spot although Los Blancos have a game in hand, a win against Real Betis in the early kickoff of Sunday will take Barcelona temporarily top of the table ahead of Sevilla and Real Madrid who play later in the day and this may not be a very hard thing to do because Barça have won all of their last six games against the green and white stripes.
Real Betis are currently having a mixed campaign, they lay 14th on the table bit well off the relegation zone with 9 points and they’ve managed just one win in their last five games. Barcelona can’t afford to get anything but a win in order to keep their hopes alive.
TEAM NEWS
Coach Luis Enrique named his 18-man squad for the tie and the absentees are players who didn’t make the game for obvious reasons. Captain Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Rafinha Alcántara are all still carrying one injury or the other, hence, they did not travel with the team for the game while goalkeeper Jordi Masip was left out for technical reasons leaving space for Marc-André Ter Stegen to return to the squad after being given a rest in Barça’s Copa del Rey win over Real Sociedad on Thursday.
For the hosts, a number of key players are absent through injuries as veteran midfielder Joaquin Sanchez will sit out the game alongside Sanabria, Brasaniac and Felipe. Coach Victor Sanchez however had the services of two new signings in Tosca and Ruben Pardo.
REAL BETIS VS BARCELONA
Time: 12:00pm CET
Venue: Estadio Benito Villamarín
Referee: Hernández Hernández
Date: Sunday, 29 January, 2017
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Barcelona 6-2 Real Betis
Real Betis 0-2 Barcelona
Barcelona 4-0 Real Betis
Barcelona 3-1 Real Betis
Real Betis 1-4 Barcelona
Barcelona 4-2 Real Betis
FORM GUIDE
Real Betis: LLWLD
Barcelona: WWWWW
Predicted Real Betis Lineup: Antonio Adan; Cristiano Piccinni, Donk, Bruno, Pezzella, Durmisi; Jonas Martin. Petros, Ceballos; Alex Alegría, Rubén Castro
Predicted Barcelona Lineup: Marc André Ter Stegen; Aleix Vidal, Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne; Denis Suarez, André Gomes, Arda Turan; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar
BarcaLens Prediction: Real Betis 1-3 Barcelona