Viktoria Plzen in line for a thumping at the Camp Nou tonight!
Funnily enough, the last time a club from the Czech Republic paid a trip to Catalonia to face Barcelona at the Camp Nou the club in question, Sparta Prague, was thumped 5-0, and one Pep Guardiola was amongst the scorers.
Now as coach of Europe’s outstanding team, it is nigh-on impossible to envisage anything other than a similarly facile mauling when the Spanish giants meet Viktoria Plzen for the first time in the clubs’ history tonight in their Champions League Group H fixture.
The bookies certainly agree: the visitors are as big as 66-1 (Victor Chandler) with traditional bookmakers in the full time result market and, at the time of writing, are a whopping 86.0 on Betfair!
Though the champions in the Czech Republic, Plzen have conceded nine goals in their two away matches in Europe to date; and facing the Blaugrana in their first ever match against Spanish-based opposition is likely to be a torturous experience.
Incidentally, Plzen’s players have already accrued six yellow cards in this tournament following just two games, and for those that like to dip into the bookings markets, opting for a high card count could be a wise move, as they will experience frustration levels like never before on a football pitch against a Barca side that rarely surrender possession.
Unbeaten at home in the Champions League subsequent to their shock reverse at the hands of Rubin Kazan a couple of seasons back, this will be a fun game for Barcelona, and one suspects the final score could end up with numbers more synonymous with a cricket scoreboard.
With Andres Iniesta, who has just returned from injury, likely to be rested ahead of this weekend’s match with Sevilla, Guardiola may opt to pitch Thiago in midfield. At 3.25 with Unibet, my money is on the 20-year-old scoring anytime. He netted four goals in six pre-season friendlies and while first-team opportunities are understandably thin on the ground, expect him to make an impact this evening, with Iniesta set to be rested and Cesc Fabregas ruled out through injury.