Following a distasteful Champions League performance, Barcelona turn their attention to the LaLiga Santander as they host struggling Granada on Monday night. Read on for our expert tips and predictions.
With two wins in their last four meetings with the Catalan Giants, including a famous victory at the Nou Camp last season, Granada have a surprisingly good record against their opponents in recent seasons. However, with a 14-3 lead for Barcelona in the grand scheme of things, it is quite clear who the dominant side in this fixture has been.
Barca keen on getting back to winning ways
The whole football world saw just how far Barcelona had fallen in their Champions League opener on Tuesday. They played host to Bayern Munich who was odds on favourites to get off the mark quickly with a win. However, nobody expected it to be such a comfortable victory for the Bavarians who netted three unanswered goals at the Nou Camp- The Catalans failing to register a shot on goal. Now they turn their focus to ramping up the points in the LaLiga Santander having managed seven points from a possible nine so far. Depay and Roberto were on target last weekend with both goals being enough to get past Getafe. Would Koeman and his troops put Tuesday's horror showing behind them ?
Granada head into this game in search of their first league victory of the season. It hasn't been a pretty start to the campaign for them as they currently sit in 17th position with two points on the board and a -5 goal difference. Those two points came in their first two games when they played out stalemates Villarreal and Valencia- a decent start in our opinion. However, it has all gone downhill from there as they were handed losses by Rayo Vallecano and most recently Real Betis. Granada won at the Nou Camp for the first time in their history last season and a monumental victory like that one again would certainly kick-start their season. Would they manage to upset the scales one again ?
Barcelona vs Granada Team News
Barcelona possible starting XI:
Ter Stegen; Alba, Pique, Garcia, Mingueza; Busquets, F. De Jong, Roberto; Depay, Coutinho, L. De Jong
Granada possible starting XI:
Maximiliano; Neava, Sanchez, Duarte, Arias; Montoro, Gonalons, Monchu; Soro, Suarez, Machis
Barcelona vs Granada Prediction: 2-0
Granada still haven't found their rhythm since the beginning of the season and with the hosts hell-bent on getting back to winning ways after a poor performance on Tuesday, we would be siding with the Catalan Giants to do just that.