New Barcelona head coach Quique Setien starts his reign at Camp Nou with a LaLiga match on Sunday, when his Blaugrana take on Granada. The home side will be thinking about revenge after the reverse fixture was surprisingly won by Granada in September, the match ended 2-0 with goals from Ramon Azeez and Alvaro Vadillo. That was the first victory for Granada in a direct match after six consecutive wins for Barcelona.
Barcelona are ready to start a new era after the sacking of head coach Ernesto Valverde, the Blaugrana are hoping that Quique Setien will manage to get them back to playing flowing and spectacular football. But the new boss also needs results, because the title race is very tight with Barcelona and Real Madrid tied on 40 points at the start of the weekend. Barcelona are still looking for their first win in 2020, they started the year with a 2-2 draw in the local derby against Espanyol and then lost 3-2 to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. Luis Suarez will be out for the remainder of the season after having underwent surgery, Ousmane Demnbele is injured as well, while Frenkie de Jong is suspended.
Granada have been enjoying their season so far, they have beaten Barcelona and drawn against Atletico Madrid, but what's most important is that they are tenth in the league table after 19 matches. They started 2020 with a 1-0 home win over Mallorca in LaLiga, while last week they defeated third-division side Tamarceite 1-0 in the Spanish Cup. Angel Montoro is suspended for Sunday's game, while Neyder Lozano, Fede Vico and Quini are expected to miss out through injury.
Probable line-ups:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba - Busquets, Roberto, Rakitic - Messi, Griezmann, Fati
Granada: R. Silva - Sanchez, Duarte, Martinez - Diaz, Herrera, Gonalons, Neva - Puerta, Soldado, Machis
My prediction:
Barcelona have won just one of their last five matches in all competitions, but now they will have fresh enthusiasm thanks to their new boss so I expect the home side to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at NetBet:
Barcelona win - 1.15
Draw - 7.75
Granada win - 15.50
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