Borussia Monchengladbach vs Barcelona
UEFA Champions League – Group C
Date: Wednesday, 28th September, 2016
Kick-off: 19:45 UK.
Venue: Borussia-Park, Monchengladbach.
Reason For Betting Tips
Borussia Monchengladbach have enjoyed a fairly good start to their domestic season this term, but they were overawed when they visited Manchester City in their Champions League group stage opener.
The Germans had already thrashed Young Boys 9-1 on aggregate to make it to the group stages, and they had since won three of their four domestic games. After the game was delayed for a day due to a severe storm they eventually got underway at the Etihad, and Sergio Aguero showed his class once again with a hat trick in a 4-0 win for Manchester City.
It was a deserved loss for Borussia Monchengladbach, but they did manage to bounce straight back with a 4-1 hammering of Werder Bremen. A draw against the impressive Leipzig followed, and on Saturday they beat Ingolstadt 2-0. However, the visit of Barcelona is sure to be one of the toughest tests they have ever faced.
The visitors have had an emphatic start to the season, but one poor result has them sitting behind Real Madrid in the La Liga table. They shockingly lost 2-1 at home to Alaves a couple of weeks ago, but they didn’t waste any time in bouncing back.
They followed this defeat with a 7-0 hammering of Celtic in their group stage opener, resigning the visitors to their worst ever European defeat. A 5-1 thrashing of Leganes was next, before they struggled to a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico Madrid. Once again they bounced back though as a Messi-less Barcelona put five past Sporting Gijon on Saturday.
Barcelona will still be without Messi on Wednesday, but that won’t worry them too much. Luis Suarez and Neymar have 11 goals between them in all competitions this season, and both Arda Turan and Rafinha are also performing well.
Borussia Monchengladbach have scored in all but one of their games so far this season, whilst Barcelona have conceded in four of their seven games since the start of the La Liga season. With them being at home as well I think the Germans can get on the score-sheet, but I highly doubt that will be enough. I fully expect Barcelona to get another victory here, so I’m backing a Barcelona Win and Both Teams to Score at 8/5 along with a 3-1 correct score prediction at 9/1.
Head To Head
This will be the first meeting between these sides.
Stats
Borussia Monchengladbach have scored in 89% of their competitive games this season, whilst Barcelona have conceded in 57% of their last seven outings.
Team News
Centre back pairing Mamadou Doucoure and Alvaro Dominguez are injured, as is midfielder Tobias Strobl, winger Patrick Hermann, and strikers Josip Drmic and Raffael.
Centre back Samuel Umtiti is still sidelined, but the biggest miss will be Lionel Messi, who's muscular injury will keep him out until the middle of October.
