BETTING PREVIEW

It’s hard to make any case for Malaga, as Barcelona will surely bulldoze over them, despite being the away team. Since winning promotion back to the top flight, Malaga have lost all 8 games against Barcelona.

Malaga’s last 4 meetings against Barca have seen them lose 4-1 on 3 occasions and 3-1 the other. That’s a lot of goals conceded and it may well continue because Barca’s recent matches have seen them score 4 against Atletico, who are 2nd in the league, 3 against Valladolid, 4 in beating Espanyol and most recently a 5-0 hammering of Cordoba, when it wasn’t necessary.

This is a ruthless Barcelona side that likes running up the score and padding Messi’s numbers.

Speaking of Messi, he has scored a hattrick in his last 2 games against Malaga, so you’d fancy him trying really hard at a hattrick of hattricks! But wait, Malaga are actually doing well. They are in fact 4th in the table as things stand, and their defence is better than Barcelonas!

While Barcelona have conceded 19 goals, Malaga have shipped just 13, less than any other side in La Liga. In fact, 2 of those goals came as own goals, so teams have really not been able to break through them as much as you’d expect, and so this game looks like a bit of a tough one for Barca, who have gone through previous opponents like a hot knife through butter.

Malaga are on their best ever La Liga run, and the 31 points they have after 18 games is the most they have ever achieved at this stage. They have already beaten Real Madrid here 3-2, and come into this off a 4-1 Copa Del Rey beating of Eibar.

SEASON STATISTICS

Malaga (4th) :::: 9-4-5 28:13 —- HOME 6-1-2 23:9
Barcelona (1st) : 17-1-0 61:19 — AWAY 9-0-0 32:12

THE BETTING VERDICT

However, Malaga did lose 1-0 to Depor, who are a bottom half side. Malaga may do well against most teams this season, but Barcelona are no ordinary team, boasting a quite ruthless offence that will find a way to outscore any opponent, no matter how many they score.

I was thinking of Messi to score 2 goals or more, which you can get at 2.60. However, I’ll respect Malaga a bit for what they’ve done this season on defence, and instead take them to score at least a goal in this match, as I see Barcelona winning but not without a fight.