It has been an eventful week in the world of Spanish football, with Barcelona making the decision to relieve Ernesto Valverde of his role as manager at the Nou Camp. The Catalonian side will be looking to get back to winning ways when they host Granada on Sunday. Meanwhile, Real Madrid could leap-frog their rivals to the top of the league with a win over Sevilla on Saturday.
Barcelona vs Granada
Some clubs would be happy with a place at the top their domestic league and safe passage through to the next round of the Champions League. However, Barcelona are not one of those clubs. They fired Ernesto Valverde this past week and replaced him with former Real Betis manager Quique Setien. The 61-year old will be immediately thrust into life at the club as they welcome Granada to the Nou Camp.
Valverde was fired after the club lost to Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of the Supercopa last week. Lionel Messi and Antione Griezmann scored the goals for Barca, but they were beaten 3-2 after last goals from Alvaro Morata and Angel Correa. The new manager will have to hit the ground running to get fans onside, and Granada could be the best opposition for them to do just that.
Granada are sitting in tenth spot in LaLiga and have lost two of their last three league games. Barcelona have beaten their opponents on Sunday eleven times out of a possible 13. However, they will be without Luis Suarez for the next couple of weeks as the Uruguayan underwent surgery on a knee injury. Regardless, Barca should have enough quality to get the job done against a struggling Granada side. Punters won’t be betting against a Barcelona win for this match.
Real Madrid vs Sevilla
Zinedine Zidane improved his record in finals with Real Madrid over the past week as they managed to secure the Supercopa with a penalty shootout success over Atletico. The match itself was a hugely forgettable game, with the only standout moment coming when Federico Valverde brought down Morata as he burst through on goal with five minutes remaining.
Real eventually got the win after they were perfect from the spot. Dani Carvajal, Rodrygo and Luka Modric put their penalties away, which allowed Sergio Ramos the opportunity to win it, which he dually did. The success in that competition would have been considered a bonus, with the LaLiga title being the honour that Real really want to win this season. They have won two of their last three league games, and have only lost once all season. However, they will need to start turning draws into wins if they are to capitalise on the dropped points that Barcelona are giving away.
They come up against a Sevilla side this weekend who will be hoping to get a win that will send them up to third spot. Their recent form doesn’t offer much enticement for punters as they have won just once in their last four. They began the season excellently and sat top of LaLiga up until the first international break. However, a real success for Sevilla this campaign would be getting back into the Champions League, as they aren’t as strong as the top two.
Both matches last season ended in comfortable wins for Real Madrid. They won 2-0 at the Bernabeu and 1-0 in Sevilla. Punters wouldn’t have seen anything over the past number of weeks to suggest that Sevilla can get the three points against a focused Madrid side. It should be a comfortable home win.
