The match i have been waiting since the World Cup finished.


Real Madrid have been in fine form. Ancelotti seems to be a good coach for Real(he was good at AC Milan but bad at Juve and Chelsea). Real come fully fit for this match and they will line-up this way:

Casillas – Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo – Modric, Kroos, Isco – James, Ronaldo, Benzema

Barcelona will start with this lineup (probable):

Bravo – Mathieu, Mascherano, Pique, Dani Alves – Iniesta, Rakitic, Busquets – Messi, Neymar, Pedro.



Of course the big question is will Suarez start instead of Pedro, the main question is if he is fit enough. I think Suarez will not start but will surely come in to play some minutes. Last year was Real Madrid’s best year in a long time but something still went bad for them: they lost to Barcelona, twice )2-1 in the Camp Nou and 4-3 at their very own Santiago Bernabeu). For me Barcelona is the better team overall but it will all come down to some tactical decisions. I think Luis Enrique is a good coach so if I had to, i would have to go with Barcelona to win this one.

But first i would like to mention some key issues:

Barcelona defend better than last year, Mathieu is playing well, Pique surprisingly is a regular again and overall Barca manages to keep that high-pressing, steal balls in the opponent’s half and manage to keep clean sheets fairly easily
Barca made an incredible bad game at PSG when they lost 3-2 and all the goals of PSG were scored by midfielders (Veratti and Matuidi) and defender David Luiz, which is absolutely shameful.
Real Madrid lost di Maria who was the second best(if not the best) player Real Madrid had last season. James replaced him but although hugely talented James does not help Real Madrid as much as di Maria did, he is still adapting(although James made a killer pass for Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal at Anfield this week, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxZ4Rp7xxxw
Neymar is not really world class and if Pedro starts instead of Suarez, it will all be down to Messi to create danger. I think we will see a lot less goals than last year, and in general i think this year both teams defenses are better than last year.
My prediction for this game is under 3.5 goals @ 1.69 odds, stake 8/10.

Pick: under 3,5 goals
Odds: 1.69