La Liga: Barca Have a Score to Settle

Barcelona vs Leganes

When little Leganes make the trip from Madrid to take on league leaders Barcelona, they can expect a warm welcome, but no mercy.

After all, when the two sides met in La Liga back in September, Leganes gave their esteemed opponents a bloody nose and sent them packing back to Catalonia with nothing. In sporting terms, this is a David-versus-Goliath fixture with arguably the best team in Europe; with some of the best players in the world welcoming a small suburb of Madrid whose home is a 12,500-capacity stadium, extended to that figure on promotion to the top division in 2016.

This weekend, Mauricio Pellegrino will bring Leganes to play in front of over 70,000 at the Camp Nou, knowing full well that other than in biblical legend, Goliath invariably wins on these occasions. Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona can strengthen their lead at the top of La Liga. While second-placed Atletico are expected to win at Huesca, Real Madrid play Sevilla and so one of the chasers is likely to fall by the wayside.

It’s not quite El Clasico, but this Barcelona/Madrid clash is well worth a watch with the underdogs in decent form and points vital at both ends of the table. The La Liga 2019 betting odds suggest Barca has the title in their grasp, but fail to beat Leganes and that grip could easily slip.

Talking Points

Messi the greatest but Copa is in doubt

Lionel Messi became the first player in the history of La Liga to reach 400 goals last week with his strike in a 3-0 win over Eibar. And, alongside Luis Suarez, he seems to be getting better and better in his and Barca’s relentless pursuit of greatness.

Barca are fighting on three fronts but may be prioritising La Liga and Europe over the Copa. Having beaten Levante 3-0 in the second leg of the Copa on Thursday, there is still a little doubt whether the Catalans will be able to complete their cup campaign. Levante claim that Barca defender Juan Brandariz played illegally in the first leg: he received a ban after collecting a yellow card in the Segunda B. There is some doubt whether the suspension carries over into the Copa, but we’ll find out soon enough.

In the meantime, all attention is on La Liga where Barca aim to make seven wins on the run.

Leganes aware that Barca remain extremely tough to beat in front of their own La Liga fans — Leganes players vs Lionel Messi during a La Liga soccer match

Seventeenth Place will do just fine for Leganes

Reaching the top division in 2016 was some achievement for Real Madrid’s tiny neighbours, but successfully fighting to retain their place, twice already, is doubly impressive. Two 17th-place finishes have been measured as success for Leganes, but those don’t tell the whole story.

This team has become a well-organised unit with the capability to play nice football and strike at the heart of opposition defences, and they haven’t looked in difficulty for much of their tenure in the Primera Division. A hard-fought 1-0 win over bottom club Huesca, just before the winter break, is what Leganes is all about, as was a 1-1 draw at home to high flying Sevilla who only equalised, courtesy of Wissam Ben Yedder, in injury time.

Skipper Unai Bustinza on the right and Jonathan Silva on the left are two of the visitors’ most consistent performers in defence, and they won’t be fazed by the task of facing Messi and Suarez.

Goals have been difficult to come by. The Madrid minnows have managed just 17 so far this season, the same as Barca’s top scorer Messi. It’s fair to say that Messi’s right foot is probably insured for more than the entire Leganes squad, but that won’t deter the underdogs from putting up a fight.

And they may have bagged a gem in loan signing Martin Braithwaite who has arrived from Championship club Middlesbrough. Pellegrino has described the 27-year-old Danish player as a clever striker, and he showed up well in the Copa tie against Los Blancos by scoring the winner in the second leg.

Leganes are up to 13^th after a run of one defeat in six, but Pellegrino’s team is just three points above the drop zone. He will be determined to keep this run going against huge odds.

History

Barcelona did the double over Leganes in both of the last two seasons, but the underdogs sprung a major surprise with a 2-1 win over the champions back in September, thanks to two goals in as many minutes from Oscar and Nabil El Zhar.

The hosts have lost a game at the Camp Nou already, with a home record of seven wins, two draws and one defeat.

While Messi is Barcelona’s top scorer with 17 goals, Leganes’ Guido Carrillo has scored five times for Leganes.

Betting Tip

	Barcelona vs Leganes	Leganes +2.50 @ 1.83
	January 21, 03:45 (GMT+8)

Barca fans will be tracking the La Liga 2019 results on Saturday, knowing that their lead may be cut to two points, and the task for their team is to stretch it out to five again.

The SBOBET odds at 1.14 for a home win lead us to look elsewhere. Okay, it would be a shock if a draw at 6.80 came up or even that away win at 21.00. This is the type of game that Asian Handicap Betting was made for, and while I can’t see anything other than a home win, I don’t expect a rout against a team which has conceded only 21 goals in 19 league games.