Villarreal vs Barcelona
Unless Barcelona suffer an epic collapse in their last nine league matches, the La Liga title will once again be headed to the Camp Nou for the fourth time in five years.
Barca have been in phenomenal form of late. They’ve won their last seven matches in a row in all competitions and have a commanding 10-point lead on second-placed Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona are coming off a big win over Espanyol in the Catalan Derby during the weekend as Lionel Messi once again provided the magic touch.
They will now look to extend their lead in midweek against Villarreal, who are still stuck in a relegation scrap after picking up another defeat on Saturday.
It would go down as one of the La Liga 2019 results of the season if Villarreal were to take down Barca. But are they really capable of causing a massive upset against the champions?
Talking Points
Unstoppable Messi
Messi had a pretty torrid time on his return to the Argentinean national team over the international break as he suffered a humiliating 3-1 loss to Venezuela. But that disastrous outing didn’t seem to have any impact on his club form as he picked up right where he left off for the Blaugrana.
Messi scored both of Barca’s goals in their 2-0 win over Espanyol, pushing him past 40 goals on the season. Incredibly, Messi has now topped the 40-goal plateau for 10-straight seasons, which is an unbelievable feat.
To put Messi’s recent brilliance more into focus, he has scored 10 goals in Barca’s last six league matches and has assisted in two others. He also had two goals and two assists in Barcelona’s 5-1 second-leg win over Lyon in the Champions League.
At this point, it’s almost expected that Messi will deliver the goods and lead Barcelona to all three points in every match he plays. Even when the team isn’t necessarily playing at its best, Messi can seemingly do his magic and bail them out at the snap of a finger.
And in the off-chance that Messi isn’t at the top of his game, Barca still have legitimate game-changers in Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho who can step up if necessary. It’s almost unfair how good this team is.
Villarreal still in danger of the drop
Villarreal missed out on a golden opportunity to put some much-needed distance between themselves and the relegation zone over the weekend. The Yellow Submarine squandered a 2-0 lead away from home against relegation rivals Celta Vigo, who stormed all the way back to grab the 3-2 win.
That defeat means that Villarreal are now just one point ahead of Celta, who are in 18th, with nine games left to play.
The loss also snapped Villarreal’s two-game winning run, their longest win streak in what has been quite an inconsistent La Liga season. Prior to those two wins, they lost to Atletico Madrid and to Alaves at home. They beat Villarreal 3-0 but also drew to fellow strugglers Espanyol and Valladolid.
On the bright side, though, Karl Toko Ekambi is in fine form at the moment. The 26-year-old Cameroonian is the team’s leading scorer this season with seven goals, three of which have come in the last two games.
Villarreal don’t possess a ton of attacking talent, so if they’re to take any points against the league leaders, Ekambi will likely need to play a pivotal role.
History
Villarreal’s list of results against Barcelona makes for some pretty rough reading. That’s because the Yellow Submarine has gone 19 matches without a win against Barcelona in the league, with its last win coming all the way back in 2008. Barca have won 14 of those games, with five ending in draws.
Barcelona have come out on top in each of the last four contests and have won by a total score of 13-2. That includes their first meeting this season at the Camp Nou, when Barca won 2-0 in a rare game that Messi failed to score in. Although, he did set up Carles Alena’s second goal, which sealed the win for Barca.
Betting Tip
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Villarreal vs Barcelona | Correct Score 1-1 @ 8.00 |
| April 03, 03:30 (GMT+8) |
It doesn’t take an expert to know that the Villarreal vs Barcelona betting odds don’t favour the Yellow Submarine. Villarreal are currently priced at 4.60 to beat Barca with 1X2 betting.
However, it might not be completely out of the realm of possibility that Villarreal can slow Barca down enough to grab a draw. In the Asian handicap SBOBET has Villarreal +1.25 priced at 1.68.
Obviously, Villarreal are still stuck in a relegation scrap and will be fighting tooth and nail to get a positive result at home.
Meanwhile, Barca are just coming off an emotional win at home in the derby and could also be looking ahead to their big top-of-the-table clash against Atletico Madrid this upcoming weekend. The looming showdown with Atletico might just cause Barca’s focus to waver and allow Villarreal to capitalize.
If you think this may actually come to fruition, the draw is priced at 4.20, with the correct score of 1-1 an intriguing 8.25.
| A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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