Barcelona vs. Valencia 10/17/21 LaLiga Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Barcelona is hosting Valencia at Camp Nou in round 9 of the Spanish LaLiga. Barcelona has been really sloppy this season, on both ends, but they are somehow managing to get positive results in LaLiga. Valencia has started well, but they have completely cooled off, and they haven’t won any of their last 4 games.

Barcelona is playing terribly, and they have won only 1 of their last 6 games, but this will be their first game in front of a full stadium, and that will certainly be a huge help. Barcelona has lost both of their Champions League games so far, they are still scoreless, and they are still without a shot on goal, which is ridiculous. In their last LaLiga game, Barcelona was playing against Atletico Madrid, and even though they have had 71% of ball possession, 2 shots on goal, 6 corner kicks, 1 big chance created, and a solid 89% of the correct passes, Barcelona wasn’t able to score a goal. Barcelona did concede 2 goals though, and they have lost this game 2-0.  Depay is still the leading goalscorer for Barcelona with 3 goals. There are still quite a few injuries in Barcelona, but they need to win this game to get on the winning track ahead of their Champions League game next week.

Valencia is a solid team, they have scored 12 goals so far this season, while they conceded 8 goals in 8 games. With 12 points, mostly thanks to their solid start, Valencia is now in 8^th place. Cheryshev, Luis Gaya, and Soler are injured, and that is a really bad thing for Valencia because they are their best players. Soler is Valencia’s leading goalscorer with 3 goals. Valencia was playing against Cadiz in their last game, and they were the better team with 68% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, 3 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 81% of the correct passes. Valencia was missing their best players in this game, and even though they were dominant, they weren’t able to score a goal. Defensively though, Valencia was solid, and the final score of this game was 0-0. I think Valencia has a bright future ahead of them, but it might take a little while longer to get there, but they will.

I’m not relying on Barcelona’s defense here because they are terrible at it, but their offense certainly can produce a lot. This is the game where Barcelona must go for the win, and I think they will get in front of a full stadium after a long time.