Barcelona vs. Real Betis: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
Barcelona host promoted Real Betis in the final game of 2015, a year which has seen the Catalans become European and world champions once again, scoring more and winning more than they've ever done in a calendar year.
Luis Enrique will surely want to end the year on a high and there's every chance as long as Barca don't take their foot of the gas as they did against Deportivo La Coruna in their last La Liga game.
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Betis haven't beaten Barca in any competition in almost five years, and it's been a decade since they triumphed at the Camp Nou.
However, Pepe Mel does have the luxury of a full-strength squad to choose from and a small break which wasn't afforded to the champions owing to their participation in the Club World Cup.
Such fine margins can often decide the outcome, but in many respects, the result against Depor was the kick up the backside that some Barca players needed to remind them that this season won't always be plain sailing.
The visitors are in a reasonably comfortable 11th place in the league table at present, albeit a couple of reverses and results going against them elsewhere could see them slide right into relegation trouble. Only six points separates them from the bottom three at start of play.
Barca, meanwhile, can be indebted to Malaga. Javi Gracia's Los Boquerones side took all three points in their match against Atletico Madrid thanks to a late winner.
A winner which meant that the Blaugrana remained top at Christmas and having played a game less. Although things are still tight at the top, Barca have played all of their main rivals way from home and are in the box seat for the second half of the season.
Another La Liga title is theirs to lose at this juncture.
Date: Wednesday, 30 December
Time: 7:30 p.m. GMT/2:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
TV Info: Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 2 HD (UK only)/beIN Sports 1 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK only)/beIN Sports Connect (U.S. only)
Form Lines
Predicted Formations
Mel will bring his Betis team to Camp Nou looking to attack and looking for the win. It's rare that his sides play any other way and although this can lead to more losses than he might like, it appears he is loved for sticking true to his principles.
For the last home game against Sevilla, the Estadio Benito Villamarin had 50,073 supporters in attendance.
AS noted before the beginning of this league campaign that 40,000 season tickets had already been sold—for a team that was being promoted.
Mel likes his teams to be exciting and often sets them up as such. It's unlikely to be any different in this match with a 4-2-3-1 formation taking the game to their hosts.
After being used as a pawn in the Jose Mourinho/Iker Casillas spat at Real Madrid, Antonio Adan has found a new home at Betis, and the last line of defence for the visitors can be hard to beat at the best of times.
If the record-breaking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar are to sign off the year in style, they'll need to be at their best to get past a goalkeeper that has only conceded two goals in his last five matches.
Of the visitors' back four, only Heiko Westermann emerged with any credit in the goalless draw against Sevilla.
Juan Vargas, Bruno and Francisco Molinero were all under par. Offer the same level of performance again here and Betis could be in trouble from the opening exchanges.
Alfred N'Diaye and Petros offer some comfort to their manager sitting in front of the defensive line, with the latter in particularly good form at present.
Andres Iniesta could have his work cut out, but Ivan Rakitic can limit N'Diaye's influence by drawing the early foul.
Sergio Busquets continues in his usual role and needs to stick touch-tight to Dani Ceballos to stop the attacking midfielder from authoring the afternoon's play. Ceballos can go left, right or centrally and has the capabilities to do so. Busquets will leave him alone at his cost.
This could be the last time for a while that the first choice Barca back four of Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba line up together.
Aleix Vidal is available to play a couple of days after this game and is sure to be pushing Alves hard for a starting spot.
Joaquin, Alvaro Cejudo and Ruben Castro will toil as much as is necessary, but Claudio Bravo should be in for a quiet afternoon as long as his defence don't have a Christmas hangover.
Player to Watch
He might be getting on a bit, but there's still some life left in Ruben Castro.
The Betis striker continues to oil the wheels in an attacking sense for the team, and he is part of one of the oldest front lines in Spanish football.
Per WhoScored.com, the 34-year-old's eight goals have contributed massively to getting his team results when required. The rest of the squad have managed just another five between them.
If Barca can lock up Castro for the majority of the 90 minutes, then arguably Betis will be powder puff up front.
Joaquin and Jorge Molina will battle until the very end, but their prowess in front of goal has faded.
Castro has four goals in his last eight games but hasn't scored for the last three, so he is due another. It's a safe bet that he too will run himself into the ground in order to try and secure the smallest advantage.
Key Battle
Betis central midfielder Petros was once again a deserved man of the match in the recent game against Sevilla.
The 26-year-old Brazilian has that knack of always being in the right place at the right time, and with the possible exception of Francisco Portillo, who hasn't played close to the same amount of games, Petros' passing range is comfortably the best in the team.
He is a player who likes to get involved even if it means his exuberance results in the odd yellow card or two. Iniesta will need to be at his sharpest to escape the shackles.
Although his trickery will be something that Petros hasn't been used to thus far this season, Betis' standout player will want to keep a close eye on his contemporary throughout proceedings.
If he is able to close the passing lanes into Neymar and Alba down the left side, it forces Barca to either play centrally or on the opposite side.
That will restrict any ability to switch play as Barca tend to rely on doing to open up the opposition.
Odds
Barcelona: 2/25
Real Betis: 33/1
Draw: 11/1
(via Odds Shark)
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