Barcelona vs Young Boys Prediction & Betting Tips (1 October)

Barça missed its return to school in the Champions League by losing at the Old Rock of Monaco to Louis II, not helped by the ultra-rapid expulsion of Eric Garcia 2-1. Quarter-finalist in the previous edition, it is clear that Barcelona led by Hansi Flick intends to do as much or even better. For the moment, we can clearly envisage that the Catalans aspire to go far following their good performances in the championship match after match and especially a series of six victories in six days. At the time of writing, the Culers had just beaten Villarreal on the road 1-5 and continued with the reception of Getafe during the week and a trip to Osasuna last weekend to follow. Swiss Champion in title, the Young Boys are playing for the 2nd consecutive season in the big-eared cup but also started with a bad result, more scathing for the arrival of the Aston Villa Villains 0-3.

In the wake of this defeat, the evening visitors won their first league match of the season, against Winterthur 1-4, a wait of 7 games to get the ball rolling. It is clear that the Swiss are not favorites in this meeting but it is always good to remember that with the cup matches plus the return play-off against Galatasaray to qualify for the Champions, they are undefeated on the road for five matches for a record of four victories. Last weekend, Young Boys hosted Grasshoppers in the championship to follow.

Yet another hard blow for the Blaugrana who lost their captain to Villarreal, Marc-André Ter Stegen for a period of 8 months, almost an early end to the season. At the moment, no goalkeeper "free from any contract" pleases the managers but rather a young retiree and former teammate of Lewandowski in the selection, Szczesny (ex-Juventus). Keylor Navas (ex-PSG/Real Madrid) also circulated but it will be Inaki Pena (n°2) who will take over in the Catalan bars. Note the withdrawals of Frenkie De Jong, Gavi, Marc Bernal (crosses), Christensen (return mid-October), Olmo (resumption), Araujo, without forgetting the Olympic champion and European champion with the Roja, Fermin Lopez.

That's a lot of players missing for Flick who will also have to deal without Eric Garcia (suspended) but who will be able to count on his Polish goleador Lewandowski (6 goals, 2 assists in the league) or the Brazilian international Raphinha, monstrous at the start of the season and especially on the 17-year-old crack, Lamine Yamal (3 goals, 5 assists in La Liga), scorer against Monaco in the Champions League. OUT for a few weeks now, Conte (ex-Bastia), Janko (1 assist in 30 league appearances last year), and Pfeiffer (on loan from Augsburg) will once again be absent from the scoresheet. Young Boys has in its ranks the Congolese international Ganvoula (4 goals in the league this season), the Swiss international Joel Monteiro (3 goals, 1 assist in the league) without forgetting to mention the scorer Itten (10 pawns, 3 offerings last year), in poor shape since the launch of the season all the same.