The Catalan giants invited Flick in the summer of 2024, and under him completely dominated Spanish football last season. After the summer break, things didn’t go as smoothly, but by January, they had regained sole leadership in La Liga. In the previous round against Real Sociedad, they lost, despite hitting the woodwork several times.
But before that, they played in the Super Cup, thrashing Athletic 5-0 and then defeating Real Madrid 3-2 in the decisive match. A week ago in the Copa del Rey, they also earned a confident result against Racing. And this week in the Champions League, they beat modest Slavia 4-2.
The team from “Nuevo Carlos Tartiere” won the promotion playoff to La Liga half a year ago, but their run in the top flight has not been successful, quickly finding themselves at the very bottom of the table. Even after changing head coach, the best they could manage was to draw more often—in January, they finished 1-1 with both Alaves and even Betis. In the last round against Osasuna, they put up a fight but lost 2-3.
The champions and leaders boast excellent stats: averaging 2.70 goals scored per round and conceding just 1.1. The underdog, meanwhile, manages only 0.55 goals scored and allows 1.55 per match.
Barcelona have won eleven in a row before slipping up in the previous round
65% of Barcelona’s matches end with both teams scoring and an average total of 3.8 goals per match
Oviedo have drawn four of their last six matches
30% of Real Oviedo matches end with both teams scoring and an average total of 2.1 goals per match.
Barcelona (probable lineup): Garcia – Balde, Eric Garcia, Cubarsi, Kounde – Pedri, de Jong, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha, Bardagji – Ferran Torres
Oviedo (probable lineup): Escandel – Alhassan, Carmo, Costas, Lucas Aijado – Colombatto, Sibo, Reina, Shaira, Hassan – Fores.
In eight encounters around the turn of the century, each team won four times. But in September, finally meeting again after a quarter-century break, the Catalans won 3-1 away.
