Real Betis vs Barcelona – Super Cup – Betting Preview
Real Betis Summary
Venue is neutral and the game is in Saudi Arabia
Real Betis have travelled with the entire squad and have no big injury concerns. Alex Moreno remained in Spain as he nears securing a move to England to join Aston Villa, making up the only notable absentee for the trip to the middle east.
The club has insisted that they are going to Saudi Arabia to treat the competition with their maximum focus, though there are some reports the starting team will see rotations.
Some Local press predicted a rare start for veteran Joaquin, although he was not in full training on Tuesday as was the case with Camarasa who is a bigger doubt.
Claudio Bravo could get the nod in goal having only played in the Europa League and Copa del Rey this season. Nabil Fekir has been cleared after a knock on the weekend, but may also begin as a sub.
Barcelona Summary
Barcelona’s spirits and chances of winning La Liga were boosted significantly after the weekend results, their confidence is excellent after a hard-working win over Atletico Madrid combined with Los Blancos losing their match in Villarreal.
Barcelona has all good team news for the trip to the middle east and the press expect a strong, but not their strongest lineup to face Real Betis on Thursday.
Should they progress then the final is on Sunday, and so Xavi will certainly look to keep the squad fresh over potentially two games in four days, especially as they’d face Real Madrid eventually.
Robert Lewandowski and Jordi Alba should start as they come back fresh from weekend bans. The Pole still has two more games to serve, but the ban only applies to La Liga.
Betting Analysis
The game takes place at a neutral venue in Saudi Arabia. Betis have been drawn as the ‘home’ side (1) and Barcelona as the ‘away’ side (2)
Looking at the 1×2 market first, where the favourite for this game is the ‘away’ side Barcelona @ 1.51. Real Betis travel to the middle east with less experience in this competition but are very hungry to make their experience count. They’re in good enough spirits and Betis to win is @ 6.25. The draw can be backed @ 4.6.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this contest. Barcelona is giving away a sizeable -1.25 @ 2.07 start to a very respectable Betis outfit. If Barcelona doesn’t win by two goals then at least half of the backer stake is lost. A draw would see the entire stake gone. Betis +1.25 @ 1.81 looks underestimated slightly given this line, but it is not certain they’ll be at the maximum motivation for this trip.
Looking at The Under/Over goal line last of all which was, two days before kick-off, moved down from 3 to 2.75. This indicates that punters are not confident of many goals. Under is @ 2.04 and the Over is @ 1.80. This recently manufactured version of the super cup is not ideal given the unique season surrounding it. With this in mind, the Super cup could see teams not playing at their best intensity, making the contest more likely to be less entertaining and low scoring.
