Barcelona - Granada CF predictions and free betting tips [11/02/2024]

Today during the 24th round of the Spanish Primera, Barcelona will play host to Granada. Xavi's team is currently at the third position in the league table, trailing 11 points behind the leading Real Madrid, while Granada is battling for survival at the 19th position.

Predicted Line-ups:

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Araujo, I. Martinez, Cancelo; F. de Jong, Christensen, Gündogan; Jamal, Lewandowski, Pedri.  
Granada: Batalha; Sanchez, Mendes, Mikel, Maouassa; Pellistri, Melendo, Hongla, Ruiz, Neva; Arezo.

Barcelona

After emerging as Spanish champions following a four-year gap, Barcelona once again finds themselves in a crisis, fighting for podium position following a period of poor results including draws against Mallorca, Rayo Vallecano, and Granada, as well as the embarrassing home defeat at the hands of Villarreal (3:5). Subsequent to their Copa del Rey quarter-final exit at the hands of Athletic Bilbao, Xavi announced his departure at the end of the season. Trailing 11 points behind Real Madrid in the league, the Blaugrana can now only fight for one trophy - the Champions League (where they will face Napoli in the playoffs). However, the past weekend saw Barcelona claim all three points in their away match against a tough Alaves side (3:1), a mere few days after their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Osasuna.

Despite a substitution, a scored goal and a red card within just 13 minutes against Pamplona, Vitor Róke will not be available tonight due to disqualification. The striker who arrived from Brazilian Atletico Paranaense this winter, has joined the list of unavailable team members, which includes João Félix (injured), Marc Giu (injured), winger Rafinha (3 goals, 5 assists in LaLiga), Marcos Alonso (lower-back surgery), Gavi and Balde (out until the end of the season), Ferran Torres (7 goals in LaLiga). Doubts persist over Sergi Roberto, Ter Stegen (due to return soon) and João Cancelo’s respective fitness levels. The starting eleven is getting rather dull for Barcelona due to assortment of absentees: Lewandowski (9 goals, 5 assists in La Liga), Pedri, Gündogan (5 goals, 5 assists) and Frenkie de Jong will most certainly start the match.

Granada

Granada, the reigning Segunda champion, are having a hard time in their present campaign at Spain’s elite level. The Andalusians have been in the relegation zone for several months and currently trail by eight points against 17th placed Mallorca. The task of saving themselves looks difficult but achievable; however, the burgundy-whites need to start winning as up until now, the visitors have won only one match out of the latest 20 in the league. Last weekend Granada finally put an end to their losing streak of three consecutive defeats by drawing with Las Palmas (1:1). It's hardly a surprise that Alexandra Medina's charges are penultimate in the overall rankings for away points (amassing just 1 point from 11 stages). During the last transfer window, Granada lost Brian Saragosa (6 goals in La Liga), who just recently joined Bayern Munich.

The Andalusian club signed Facundo Pellistri from Manchester United on loan to fill the void left by the centre-forward. In the meantime, Granada's midfielder Shawn Weissman who was in dire need of playing time, has moved to Salernitana, while the young Canadian Corbeanu transferred to Wolverhampton. Lech's Polak Kamil Piatkowski has been dismissed from a match against Las Palmas and will miss the trip to Barcelona. The same can be said about midfielder Villar, who wracked up too many yellow cards. On top of that, Argentine forward Lucas Boje is injured, as are Raúl Fernández (backup goalkeeper), Víctor Díaz (only four appearances this season), and Vallejo (on loan from Real Madrid for the season).

Head to head

All of the last three face-to-face matches between these teams ended in a draw. The Catalans' last success against Granada dates back to January 2021 when they thrashed the Andalusians by 4 goals.

Prediction for Barcelona - Granada

Although winning the title seems unlikely, Barcelona needs to improve their results if they want to finish in the Champions League quartet. It is clear that dropping points in a home game against sinking Granada is not on Xavi's agenda, regardless of the form his players are in. Not expecting any surprises here and back the favourite to win with a -1.5 handicap.