Sports Blog 08/01/2015: Match Preview – Barcelona vs Elche, Thursday 8th January 2015

Barcelona will be looking to put their recent turbulence behind them as they host bottom-placed Elche in the Copa del Rey last 16 tonight.

If you just glanced at Barcelona’s season, you would be hard-pushed to see much wrong. Second in the league, a point behind Real Madrid, likely to progress in the Copa del Rey and a set of fixtures against Manchester City in the next round of the Champions League. Yet these stats obscure the troubles at the Nou Camp; it is due to this chaos that Elche may stand a (very slim) chance of beating Barcelona tonight.

Following a defeat at the hands of Real Sociedad at the weekend, rumours began to circulate of a training ground bust-up between Messi and manager Luis Enrique, rumours that importantly haven’t been ‘confirmed or denied’ by Barca. This was then followed by Messi following Chelsea on Instagram and a deluge of claims that the diminutive Argentinian was on his way to Stamford Bridge. Messi himself hasn’t commented on these rumours, leading some to speculate that, instead of wishing to move, this is a canny tactic by Messi to cause the sacking of Luis Enrique. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu claimed Messi is happy and will stay at least until his contract ends in 2018, but tellingly has called forward a 2016 presidential election to this summer in order to quell the rising tensions at the club.

This was not all; a transfer ban that means Barca cannot sign anyone until 2016 came around to bite Andoni Zubizarreta, legendary Barca goalkeeper and director of football since 2010, in the behind as he was fired on Sunday. This then led to another Barca legend, Carlos Puyol, to retire from his post as assistant director of football on the same day. Combine this with an underperforming Luis Suarez, who is already rumoured to be on his way to Manchester United after only joining in the summer, and the environment at the Nou Camp looks pretty toxic.



Yet just like Barca’s current standing paints a too optimistic picture, this negative news is also too quick to create a club in crisis. They are after all second in La Liga, and have scored 26 goals in their last 5 home games alone. Barcelona’s current situation perhaps speaks more to the expectations that surround the club, and the struggles they have faced post-Guardiola, than any grand slip in form.

Tonight sees a return to Enrique’s very first competitive game in charge, when Barca beat Elche 3-0 in August; a repeat performance may help ease the current issues at the club. With Elche only on 11 points, firmly at the bottom of La Liga, all conventional logic would point to a Barcelona win. Yet the Spanish minnows may be able to take advantage of the dark clouds hanging over the Nou Camp. On the other hand, after beating Huesca 12-1 over two legs in the last round of the cup, Barca may be in need for a stress-busting session, and a thorough beating of Elche tonight might be just what the doctor ordered ahead of an important visit from Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

The various odds for the two teams show the gulf in quality. Messi on 23 goals is 9/5 fixed odds betting to score first, with Neymar on 14 goals at 3/1 and Pedro on 7 at 5/1. Compare this to Elche, whose top scorer is Jonathas with 7 goals at 16/1, David Lomban on 3 goals at 33/1 and Edu Albacar on 2 goals at 28/1. Despite the nightmarish Nou Camp situation, our Spreadex clients can’t see past a Catalan victory at a Barcelona/Elche Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 2.85-3.05; and with Barca’s current home-scoring record, Spreadex are offering a Total Goals spread betting quote of 3.8-4.