Copa Del Rey
2018-01-25 - FC Barcelona vs Espanyol
A Sports Betting Pick by Cruiser
Football: Copa del Rey
25th January 2018 – Kickoff 20:30
Introduction:
This match is all the more interesting after Espanyol won the first leg and also handed Barcelona their first defeat this season. They lost by 1-0 and it is a real surprise that Barcelona failed to score any goals, so now they have the chance to turn things around at the Nou Camp. Last weekend Barcelona won in La Liga while Espanyol suffered a defeat.
FC Barcelona
They will put their priority in this Cup now as they have a huge lead in La Liga at the moment. Considering that Real Madrid were knocked out by Leganes last night, they now have a good chance to capture this trophy but they need to come back from the first leg defeat first. They failed to score in the first leg and conceded towards the end so they have all to do now.
Things did not go right for them no doubt in the first leg. Messi also failed to score from the penalty spot so they now need home ground support as well as the fan to guide them to victory here. After that defeat they came back to winning ways and beat Real Betis by 5-0 at the Nou Camp after that.
They scored all of the goals in the last 30 minutes of the game and no doybt that the combination of Suarez-Messi did really well. In the meantime, Mascherano and Rafinha has left the side, while they do have problems with injuries so the team will be changed from the first leg.
Espanyol
They will hope they have done enough in the first leg to prepare them for this crunch match at the Nou Camp for the return leg. They know the slim win is not enough for what is to come in the return leg tonight. Their last match after beating Barcelona saw them going down to Sevilla at home, so that will not have done their confidence any good now.
They lost by 3-0 to Sevilla and that ended their good run of four games without defeat. They won three times in that run and in the La Liga they had a run of four games without defeat. No doubt they changed their side which had beaten Barcelona so now we can expect that coach Flores will also make changes hoping to repeat what they did in the first leg. Out of the side through injuries are Jurado and Piatti as well as J.Fuego who got injured in the clash against Sevilla.
Past Meetings:
When Barcelona hosted earlier at the season at the Nou Camp they won by 5-0.
The Pick:
Take Barcelona and give the 2 3/4 ball Asian Handicap
The Pick :
Barcelona 4-0 Espanyol
