Valencia vs Barcelona: Barca Ready to Put Pedal to the Metal

Barcelona had battled to two straight lackluster 2-2 draws. The first was to Real Sociedad and the second to AC Milan. For any other team, these results would not be alarming in any way, but for the super team that is Barcelona, it caught people's attention. 

Barcelona let everyone know they were just fine by following up those two draws with an 8-0 thrashing of Osasuna. Lionel Messi was up to his usual spectacular tricks in that match. He netted a hat trick and created plenty of opportunities for his teammates.

This is not good news for Valencia. Barca has dominated this matchup recently and they certainly look to be in a position to continue that. Valencia has won only one of their last 10 league meetings with Barcelona. That was a 2-1 victory back in February 2007.

Barcelona is not just going to win this match, they are going to dominate it, and in the process they will prove that the doldrums experienced in two straight draws were nothing but a slight bump in the road in an otherwise sterling campaign.

Barca has tallied 15 goals in La Liga play. This is their second highest-scoring start to a league campaign—second only to the 19 they tallied in 1951. Impressively, all of those goals have come in open play.

Barca is playing beyond expectations that were already through the roof. They are going to come out strong and put this match away early. Nine of their 15 goals have come in the first half of matches. I expect this match to be more of the same.

This one will be all but over by the time it reaches halftime.