Getafe v Barcelona
Football: Spain, Primera Division 2009/2010
Saturday 12th September 2009 - Kickoff 17:00

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Getafe

Getafe was struggling last season and just avoided relegation but the summer holiday seems to have turned around the entire Getafe squad.

Getafe was impressive at newly promoted Racing Santander on opening day as Getafe dictated the pace of the game and controlled the possession against Santander and eventually walked away 4-1 winners.

However, playing against a newly promoted side is very different to playing against the reigning Spanish Champions as well as European Champions.

Barcelona would be the team dictating the pace and controlling the possession and Getafe will have to work twice as hard as they did in the first game in order to get anything out of the game.

Getafe coach Michel is likely to stick with the same side that defeated Santander 2 weeks ago. Oscar Ustari will start in goal protected by Lopez, Diaz, Mane and David Cortes.

Adrian Gonzales, Daniel Parejo, Fabio Celestini and Pedro Rios will form a midfield four leaving Manu and Roberto Soldado up front.

Summer signing Daniel Parejo will be the play maker for the home side and I believe that Parejo is still young and his inexperience might just cost Getafe.

Barcelona

Pep Guardiola will be pleased with his side maintaining a winning start to the new campaign.

With summer signing Zalatan Ibrahimovic living up to expectations and Bojan maturing into a world class player, Barcelona are favourites to me to win the La Liga even with Real Madrid splashing out the money on Kaka and Ronaldo.

Former Real Madrid striker, Roberto Soldado started the season with a screamer by scoring a hat-trick in the opening day of the season.

Barcelona also has welcomed back Andres Iniesta from a three month injury lay off. With Guardiola having no new injury concerns from the international break, Barcelona will set out their strongest eleven to.

Guardiola is expected to play with his preferred 4-3-3 formation.

Victor Valdes will start in goal protected by Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Carlos Puyol and Maxwell.

In midfield, Xavi, Iniesta and Sergi Busquet will form a dynamic midfield trio supporting Henry, Bojan and Ibrahimovic.

THe Betting Verdict

With Barcelona travelling away to Italy to face Inter Milan in midweek, Guardiola might rotate a couple of his players.

However with the amount of talent his players have in this squad, any one of them should be good enough to secure a win for Barcelona.

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Barcelona to win this game at a price of approximately 1.55 (Main Bet)

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Barcelona to cover the -1 head start (Side Bet)