Barcelona vs Young Boys prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-09-30 19:00.
[p]Barcelona’s perfect winning start (W7) to their La Liga campaign ended with a 4-2 defeat to Osasuna on Saturday. Squad rotation had a detrimental impact on the side and head coach Hansi Flick publicly took “responsibility” for resting too many key stars following the loss. They’ll aim to bounce back here in UEFA Champions League (UCL) action against Young Boys, and anything less than a win could prove ruinous to their hopes of direct qualification to the knockouts after ten-man Barça lost 2-1 at Monaco on matchday one.[/p]
[p]That defeat was their fourth across the last eight UCL games (W3, D1) and a third consecutive match to have seen them concede 2+ goals. Yet although they lost 4-2 to Paris Saint-German in their last home UCL match, Barça can take inspiration from a run of four consecutive wins at home in the competition prior to that loss.[/p]
[p]Young Boys were also beaten on matchday one (3-0 vs Aston Villa) and also this past weekend in the Swiss Super League. The defeat to Grasshoppers was already their fourth defeat from eight matches of this domestic campaign (W1, D3), so a win here in a first-ever H2H with Barcelona would be a timely confidence boost. [/p]
[p]Spain hasn’t been a happy visiting place for the Swiss side, who have lost on their last three trips to face La Liga sides. Recent European travels usually haven’t been their forte either, as Young Boys have won just once across their last eight UCL away games (D3, L4). Half of those games saw the misfiring outfit fail to score, which was also the case in their two most recent competitive defeats![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Lamine Yamal scored Barcelona’s last goal at the weekend, and also contributed to their previous two goals (G1, A1) in this competition, but all three ended in defeats! Contrastingly, someone who’s seen his goals come in wins is Joël Monteiro – his last two scoring appearances have seen him net three and two, the latter coming in this competition against Galatasaray before half-time.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Five of Barcelona’s last eight home UCL matches have seen the opening goal arrive on or before the 15th minute.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Sridhar B[/i][/p]