Will Flick get the fourth win in the fourth game?
As soon as matchday 3 is over, matchday 4 continues in Spain’s La Liga. This will be opened on Saturday by FC Barcelona, who welcome promoted Real Valladolid to the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys at 5 p.m.
In the first game of the matchday this weekend, league leaders Barça are unsurprisingly heavily favored after their perfect start to the season, so a Barcelona vs Real Valladolid bet on a home win in the three-way tie is not a lucrative option. However, there are some interesting tips that can be placed on this game
What these are, what might speak in favor of the guests from Valladolid and which Barcelona vs Real Valladolid prediction we make, we discuss all this in this preview of the La Liga duel Barcelona vs Real Valladolid including odds, a look at interesting statistics and the direct comparison of the two teams.
Barcelona – Statistics & current form
The start to the league under new coach Hansi Flick has been more than successful: FC Barcelona are top of the table after three matchdays and are the only team to have achieved a perfect record. Even if the results were close and equal, three 2:1 victories mean nine points and the lead at the top of the table
FC Barcelona: Bernal seriously injured, Olmo shines
As in their opening 2-1 win at Valencia FC, Barça had to come back from a goal down for the second time in their second away game of the English week. The 2-1 win at Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday evening was a costly one, however, as Marc Bernal suffered a serious injury. The 17-year-old suffered a torn cruciate ligament and will miss the rest of the season. The horror injury overshadowed the third win of the season and also an extremely successful debut for a new signing: Dani Olmo made his first appearance for Barcelona, was immediately impressive after coming on at half-time and even scored the winning goal to seal the win.
A joy to play with, strong passing and a goalscoring threat – Olmo showed flashes of everything Barça had hoped for from their 55 million euro new signing. After his strong short outing, it can be assumed that Olmo will be in the starting eleven against Valladolid on Saturday.
If Olmo can work his magic again, the betting is not only on a home win for Barcelona against Real Valladolid, but also on a handicap victory or a win and over 2.5 goals. After all, it could be the league leaders’ turn to win a game with more than “just” 2:1
Predicted Barcelona line-up:
Real Valladolid – stats & current form
Real Valladolid’s start to the new first division season is certainly not an easy one – at least as far as away games are concerned. After the promoted team had to play at champions Real Madrid on matchday 2 (and lost 0:3), they now have to travel to FC Barcelona on matchday 4.
The next defeat – possibly a clear one – is therefore imminent. The Barcelona vs Real Valladolid odds already show how much the promoted side from the Castilla y León region are considered underdogs. The online bookmakers are offering top odds of 13.00 for the visitors to win. The Bet365 app currently offers these top odds, and with the Bet365 voucher you can place risk-free bets on the match – for example, if you believe that the visitors can take something countable from the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Valladolid pick up four points with a goal
But what are the chances of that? After all, Valladolid haven’t got off to a bad start and already have four points to their name – their only defeat so far came on their visit to Madrid. Incidentally, the score was only 1-0 until the 85th minute, with champions Real scoring the clear 3-0 only extremely late on.
Valladolid have achieved extremely respectable results against fellow promoted teams Espanyol (1-0) and Leganes (0-0) – so their start to the season can be considered a success, as they have kept a clean sheet at home. However, Valladolid have also only scored one goal. And their record away from home was not great last year despite promotion, as Valladolid lost a whopping ten away games in the 2nd division
Predicted line-up for Real Valladolid:
Barcelona – Real Valladolid head-to-head comparison / H2H record
Valladolid have also regularly kept a clean sheet in recent matches against FC Barcelona: The Catalans won six of their last seven games to nil. The defeat came in their last meeting in May 2023, before Valladolid were relegated – although Barça were already the new champions by then and were only halfway there.
Meanwhile, it has been a lot longer since Valladolid won a point at Barcelona, with the last time Valladolid got something worthwhile at Barça in 2003. Since then, Barcelona have won nine home games in a row – a total score of 31:4.
Barça’s historic overall record in 49 home games is 41 wins, 6 draws and just 2 defeats. So Valladolid have rarely been scary as guests in Catalonia
Barcelona – Real Valladolid betting tip
The recent record of the two in the direct comparison speaks for itself, and the current form of Flick’s eleven also suggests that the Blaugrana could get a result other than a narrow 2:1 for the first time in the first game of matchday 4 in La Liga on Saturday.
The handicap win – for the brave even the one with -2 – is obvious, but we favor the prediction of a one-nil win for the Catalans in the match FC Barcelona vs. Real Valladolid. After all, Valladolid have only scored one goal this season and have regularly lost to Barça. And the newly promoted side did not do particularly well away from home last year. Goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen will also be hoping to finally keep a clean sheet against the promoted side on matchday 4
