Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Barcelona vs Internacional

Barcelona head into a big friendly match against Inter looking to prepare for the new season in perfect fashion.

Pep Guardiola’s side are due to tour the USA and will be facing Manchester United on Saturday, but before that they head to Bayern to participate in the Audi Cup, which features Sport Club Internacional, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and the Champions of Europe.
Barcelona are widely accepted as the best football team in the world right now. They have skill and talent all over the pitch and although they will not field a full strength team for this game, it will still be evident everywhere where they have the ball.
Accordingly, this is a friendly and it remains to be seen whether new £33m signing Alexis Sanchez from Udinese will play and part, but the bookmakers still make the European champions 2/5 across the board.
In contrast, Sport Club Internacional are currently in the middle of their domestic league and are in good form, having beaten Avaí last Thursday. The Brazilian club are as long as 8/1 with Boylesports to win this game, which could see quite a few backers.
Barcelona can race to a cricket score win against any team across Europe, but of course this game will no doubt have the air of a training session, and it remains to be seen which sort of side Guardiola will put out.Barcelona to win the match 3-0 is priced at 9/1 with Unibet and a 3-1 win is 11s with Bet365.
Inter will expect the waves of Barcelona attacks and how they fare in this match will be determined by how well they defend over the course of the 90 minutes. If they manage to keep everything tight and secure then they have a good chance of stealing a win. Inter to win 1-0 or 2-1 are both 22s in a few places.
David Villa should start the game and he’s the best bet to score first at 9/2 with Bet365, while fans of English football should recognise former Man City and Everton striker Jo up front for Internacional. He is 10/1 to find the net first which does look a shade of value.
Lionel Messi is unlikely to start the match because of his duties over the summer in the Copa America with Argentina, while it is unlikely that Pep Guardiola will field his strongest side.
Internacional are currently half way through their domestic season, and with Barca missing some key players the 8/1 on offer from Paddy Power for the team from Brazil may not be too much of a bad shout.

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