Kobe vs Barcelona Predictions

Despite going into their pre-season opener against Chelsea as warm favourites, Barcelona came unstuck, losing by two goals to one. After that defeat, the Spanish champions will be looking to do better. Much of the same can be said for Barca’s Japanese opponents, who come into this fixture having lost each of their last three.

From a performance point of view, although they were very much in the game, as an expected goal difference of only -0.17 suggests, Barcelona disappointed against Chelsea. Defensively, as they gave away 1.25 expected goals for, they weren’t awful, but they still failed to prevent the English side, who registered six shots on target, from threatening. At the other end of proceedings, Ernesto Valverde’s men struggled to be at their creative best, as they posted a rather poor expected goals for figure of 1.08. Not only was there a lack of creativity from a side that often makes light work of fashioning clear-cut chances, but there was also a lack of end-product.

Fortunately for the Spanish giants, a match against Kobe should be less demanding and thus it shouldn’t be too hard for Barcelona to click through the gears and start building momentum.

As for the hosts, whose league season is currently in full swing, it’s fair to say that things haven’t gone well for Kobe over the last few weeks. Last time out, they were beaten by Yokohama at this venue, while they’ve now lost three games on the spin. They’ve conceded a worrying total of seven goals in those three games and have notched just two in reply. Moreover, when Kobe took on Los Angeles FC in a friendly back around the start of the year, they received a 4-1 beating, which doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of a match against Barcelona.

From a betting point of view, ‘Barcelona to Win & Both Teams to Score’ catches the eye. At the end of the day, in terms of quality, this is something of a mismatch. In short, the visitors, who’ve scored at least three goals in three of their last five friendlies, should do plenty of damage. However, Kobe, who aren’t short of quality with veterans such as David Villa and Andres Iniesta in their ranks, shouldn’t be completely dismissed. Not only have the hosts scored 11 goals in their last four at home, but they scored in defeat against LA in their most recent friendly, while they’re up against a Barca side that will always leave masses of space in behind, so counter-attacking chances will be there for the Japanese side.