Bank on Barcelona to seal place in Champions League knockout stages with ease against Plzen tonight
Barcelona beat Czech Republic champions Viktoria Plzen 2-0 at the Camp Nou in their Champions League encounter a fortnight ago, and Pep Guardiola’s men can cement their place in the knockout stages by winning the return leg this evening.
The Catalan outfit have lost just one of their last seven away matches in Europe’s premier club tournament, and while Plzen are unbeaten in four matches in this competition at the Synot Tip Aréna this term, in that quartet of matches they faced nothing of Barca’s calibre, and their odds in the match result market (as big as 32.0 with Pinnacle) just about sums their chances up tonight.
It looks as though Cesc Fabregas will be amongst the start starting XI with Pedro still sidelined, while reports suggest that Guardiola will probably play either Gerard Pique or Carles Puyol rather than both of them in the heart of defence, with Javier Mascherano likely to, once again, step into a central defensive role.
Ominously for the home side, the reigning Spanish and European champions were on fire in their La Liga fixture against Mallorca at the weekend, thrashing that side 5-0, with the unstoppable Lionel Messi netting a first-half hat-trick. Unless BATE Borisov pull off an unlikely victory against AC Milan in the other Group H match today, the Blaugrana’s progression to the next round will be sealed tonight.
However, judging by the side Guardiola is likely to field, pretty much a full-strength one, it looks as though there will be no easing off the gas in this match. Indeed, Barca will want to want to win the group. I’m predicting a 3-0 win for the visitors, about which odds of 11-2 are readily available.