Villarreal vs. Barcelona 7/5/20 LaLiga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Villarreal is hosting Barcelona at Estadio de la Ceramica in a derby match of round 34 in Spanish LaLiga.

Villarreal is in a fantastic form since the restart and they haven’t lost any of their last 6 games in LaLiga. During this fantastic stretch, Villarreal has conceded only 2 goals, while scoring solid 9 goals. With a form like this, Villarreal was bound to climb the standings, and they did, all the way to 5th place which leads straight into the group stage of the Europa League. Not only Villarreal is in the Europa League, but they are also only 3 points away from Sevilla who are in the last Champions League spot. Villarreal has scored 53 goals so far and they are one of the best offensive teams in LaLiga, while they conceded 40 goals in 33 games, which isn’t that bad. In their most recent game against Betis on the road, Villarreal was the better team with 54% of ball possession, 6 shots on goal, 5 corner kicks, and high 89% of the correct passes. Villarreal has won this game 0-2 with two goals in the first half. Moreno has scored 15 goals for Villarreal this season, while Cazorla added 8 goals and 8 assists. Mori and Guerra are injured, while Chakla is still questionable. Villarreal absolutely deserves to be this high in the standings, especially with the soccer they are displaying after the break, but I hope they can keep this up because Villarreal has few hard games left until the end of the season.

Barcelona is living their hardest days of the season. Not only they lost the first place to Real Madrid, but the chemistry, companionship, and morale are also at the lowest levels in a long time. Barcelona hasn’t won any of their last two games, and even though they haven’t lost said two games, the draw is not enough to keep up with Real Madrid. In their last two games, Barcelona has scored 4 goals, but they also conceded 4 goals. With 74 points, Barcelona is now in second place and they no longer depend only on themselves, but Real Madrid as to lose points in at least two games, while Barcelona has to win every single game until the end to win the title. With 74 scored goals, Barcelona is the best offensive team in LaLiga, but their defense is not on par with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Barcelona has conceded 35 goals so far. In their last game against Atletico Madrid at home, Barcelona was dominant with 72% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 3 corner kicks, and high 92% of the correct passes. With so many created chances, Barcelona should have scored a lot more than 2 goals, but something is rotten in this team. This match ended in 2-2 draw, and for that, I blame coach Setien who should be fired. The tactic to start the game was solid, but adapting that tactic during the game was crap, and substitutions timing was even worse. Setien is constantly waiting on Suarez to score goals, but when he doesn’t even find himself in a situation to score a goal for 70 minutes, he should be substituted. I thought Setien will be fired after this game, but I guess he got another chance, despite not bringing anything new to this team. Barcelona must make changes because the title is on the line, and not only that, but Barcelona has no chance in the Champions League with this soccer.

I doubt something has changed in Barcelona over the last few days, and I think this situation might escalate to a whole new level if Barcelona doesn’t win this game. I’m not siding with Barcelona against excellent Villarreal, I will rather pick something on goals, which we didn’t miss in this matchup.