Valencia vs Barcelona Betting Tips

The 1st Leg at the Camp Nou quickly turned into an absolute nightmare for Gary Neville and his side. 4 goals from Luis Suarez, 3 from Leo Messi and a red card for Shkodran Mustafi produced one of the worst results in the club’s history and ended this tie as a contest long before the sides reconvene at the Mestalla.

As if that wasn’t bad enough Valencia’s winless league run reached 12 matches on Sunday as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at struggling Real Betis and they are now looking like a side in genuine danger of relegation.

Valencia are a team completely devoid of confidence or belief right now and there will be nobody inside the Valencia dressing room that will be looking forward to this game. All they can really do is show some passion and fight but there could be an unsavoury atmosphere in the stadium, particularly if they fall behind early on. The crowd turned on the players in their last home game against Sporting Gijon and after a further two defeats on the road since then, it is the manager who could bare the brunt of the criticism this time.

That could lead to a toxic atmosphere at the Mestalla and it won’t do the Valencia players any favours. Barcelona will know they are effectively through to the final already but will want to keep the momentum that winning matches breeds by extending their winning streak to 11 matches in all competitions.

Luis Enrique is sure to make a few changes but certainly don’t expect a youth team and they will unquestionably still be favourites to win even if several fringe players do come in. Given the gulf in class that was so shockingly evident in the 1st leg, backing Barcelona with a -1.0 Asian Handicap looks worth a punt at 1.975.

It’s highly unlikely to be anything like 7-0 again though and Barca were some way off their best when they won across the city at Levante on Sunday. That ended in a 2-0 win for the Catalans and you can back a repeat here at 9/1.