Barcelona – Real Oviedo

Will the visitors be able to survive an afternoon at Camp Nou?

Barcelona host Real Oviedo in La Liga this Sunday. This matchup is between a top team and a newly promoted underdog. Barcelona is fighting at the top of the table, while Real Oviedo is in the bottom. On paper, there is a class difference between the teams, but Barcelona still has to do the job and avoid underestimating the visitors.

Barcelona: Starting matches patiently

The home team has had a solid season and has won most of their matches. Offensively, Barcelona has a lot of quality and tends to create chances even against teams that go deep. They play patiently and have the ball most of the time, and the goals usually come sooner or later. Barcelona often increases the tempo after the break and finds more space when the opponent gets tired. Defensively, they have also been relatively solid, although they can concede goals from time to time.

Real Oviedo: Struggling for promotion

The visitors from Oviedo are back in La Liga for the first time in a long time, and they have had a tough season. The team has struggled to win games and has scored very few goals. As a bottom team, they focus mostly on defense, and we can expect Oviedo to go deep to defend themselves at Camp Nou. Against the top teams, they are often pressed at the back for large parts of the game. When Oviedo faced Barcelona at home earlier in the season, they actually took the lead and held it 1–0 at half-time, but it still ended with a 1–3 loss. It shows that Oviedo can resist for a while, but over 90 minutes they have a hard time withstanding the pressure from the top teams.

Conclusion: Long 90 minutes for the guests

Everything is in place for a comfortable home win if Barcelona play to their usual level. Real Oviedo will probably be happy if they can keep it close for as long as possible, but Barcelona's quality will probably create decisive chances eventually. We expect Barcelona to take control, and especially in the second half things could open up. The home team should be able to score at least two goals after the break.

We therefore play;

La Liga at 16:15: Barcelona - Real Oviedo: Barcelona over 1.5 goals in 2nd half (1.66)