Barcelona v Real Madrid: Catalans to shade El Clasico first leg
Published:Barcelona welcome Real Madrid to the Nou Camp as the sides meet in the Spanish Super Cup final for the second year in succession.
It is 4/5 Barca emerge from this first-leg fixture victorious, and that price is as generous as you are ever likely to see about the Catalans at home.
The match will represent Tito Vilanova’s first El Clasico as a manager, and as such he will be even more eager to avenge Real’s victory at the Nou Camp last term.
Punters who fancy the away side to repeat that feat can back them at 16/5 to do so, but will be discouraged by a lacklustre La Liga display over the weekend.
Los Blancos could manage only a 1-1 draw at home to Valencia on Sunday, and the possibility of them playing out another stalemate here is attributed an 11/4 price.
Barca, by contrast, stormed to an impressive 5-1 victory over Real Sociedad, and look terrific prospects at 3/2 to win a game featuring three or more goals.
Such a selection would have reaped returns in half of the six meetings of these sides last season, including the Nou Camp leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
That match ended 3-2 in Barcelona’s favour, and a repeat of that scoreline is a big 18/1 here.
Also, it is worth noting that matches between these two Spanish giants have traditionally become much closer within the past two years.
Since Barcelona’s 5-0 victory in 2010, the biggest margin either side has enjoyed success by is two goals, whilst both have scored in eight of the last ten meetings.
It is 8/13 that both defences are breached here, whilst the 5/2 about Barca winning a game in which each team finds the net looks a stand-out bet.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi heads the betting to open the scoring at 3/1, and after racking up an astonishing 82 goals in all competitions last season, that price tempts.
Cristiano Ronaldo comes next as a 5/1 chance, and his 64 strikes over the course of the past season outline his credentials.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
