Barcelona’s first home game of the new Spanish league season will see Ernesto Valverde’s men front up against Real Betis at the Nou Camp without the key attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele.
The Catalans slumped to an opening day away loss at Athletic Club, with Aritz Aduriz’s late stunner proving to be the winner for the Basque outfit. That result leaves Barca in the relegation zone going into Round 2- rather uncharted territory for Ernesto Valverde’s men.
With the trio of Messi, Suarez and Dembele all in the treatment room, Valverde will have to shuffle his troops. One option is to go for a 4-4-2 and ask Rafinha to play alongside Antoine Greizmann, while another could see youngster Carles Perez get a start, given that both Malcom and Philippe Coutinho have left the club this summer.
Potential Barca lineup options against Betis
While Barca have a number of key players unavailable, Betis are somewhat better placed, with goalkeeper Joel Robles their only absentee after he got sent off eight minutes into their season opener against Real Valladolid. His dismissal forced Betis to play with ten men for nearly the whole of the game, and they eventually finished at the receiving end of a 2-1 scoreline.
Despite Barca’s injury issues, they’re still strong favourites at Novibet to emerge winners in this clash. With the exception of last season’s upset 4-3 win, Betis’ trips to the Nou Camp have mostly seen the visitors go back empty handed, with Barca winning most of the games and scoring goals for fun.
Games between Barcelona and Betis this decade at the Nou Camp
Barcelona 3-4 Betis
Barcelona 2-0 Betis
Barcelona 6-2 Betis
Barcelona 4-0 Betis
Barcelona 3-1 Betis
Barcelona 4-2 Betis
Barcelona 4-2 Betis
Barcelona 5-0 Betis
As you can see, Barca love playing Betis, averaging nearly four goals a home against the Andalusians this decade across all competitions.
While Betis did lose to Valladolid, their defeat must be seen in context- the latter were also able to take points off Zinedine Zidane’s Madrid yesterday.
Another defeat for Barca will almost certainly set the alarm bells ringing at the Nou Camp- it’s one thing to lose to a freak goal away from home, and another to lose to Betis (whom they’ve dominated in recent years) at home.
The key figure for Betis will be Nabil Fekir- the former Liverpool target who moved to Spain this season. It will also be interesting to see how the likes of Andres Guardado (the club’s vice captain) and William Carvalho go against Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic in the centre of the park.
Ref watch: The man with the whistle is Jose Gonzalez. Barca’s last game under him was a 2-0 win over Getafe in May while Betis’ last game with him in the middle was their Copa loss to Valencia back in February.