Cartagena VS Barcelona Match Prediction
2019-11-13
18:00:00
Cartagena
VS
Barcelona
Our Prediction Tip
Barcelona will win this match.
2019-11-1318:00:00 Barcelona will win this match.
Barcelona and Cartagena last met in the Copa del Rey in December 2013, with the La Liga side winning 4-1 away and 3-0 at home to ensure their safe passage into the next round.
As mentioned, betting on club friendlies can be a risky business – particularly in situations such as these when the big team are missing the bulk of their first-team squad.
That said, Barcelona are still big favourites. Cartagena might be flying high in the Segunda B division, but if the Barca B players expect to make a difference in La Liga, these are matches they should already be winning.
There is also no shortage of attacking talent available to Barcelona too – Carles Perez, Hiroki Abe and Ousmane Dembele could realistically form an expansive front three.
Cartagena have kept nine consecutive clean sheets, but that front three – if indeed it is deployed – have plenty of quality to break the Murcian side down.
At the other end, Cartagena have not scored so many – their success has been built around a solid defence.
They do have one of their creative players, in Adalberto Carrasquilla, away on international duty too.
Barcelona are favourites to win this game despite it being a friendly, and it will be a good test against one of the lower-leagues high-flying teams.
Cartagena might be underdogs, even against a young Barcelona team, but they do not concede many goals so this could be a low-scoring game.
With only Panama’s Adalberto Carrasquilla away due to international duty, Cartagena could field a strong team for this friendly, although there will no doubt be opportunities from the bench for fringe first-team players to impress too.
Marc Martinez – After a stunning run of clean sheets so far this season – nine in a row – the 29-year-old goalkeeper has the chance to test himself against elite opposition.
Dorde Jovanovic – The Serbian striker scored his second goal of the league season last weekend to earn a narrow win at Granada II.
David Fornies – The only one of Cartagena’s defenders to play every single one of their league games this season, including the nine consecutive clean sheets.
Cartagena have kept nine consecutive clean sheets since their only defeat of the season, winning seven of those matches. Dorde Jovanovic scored their winning goal against Granada II last weekend, following a goalless draw with San Fernando CD the previous week.
Barcelona have 16 players away on international duty, but reports on the club website suggest the rest of the squad will feature in this game. Among those missing are Barcelona B’s Spanish quarter Inaki Pena, Jorge Cuenca, Ansu Fati and Abel Ruiz – all of whom might otherwise have played a part in this friendly. Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba are injured.
Ousmane Dembele – The most high-profile player not on international duty and therefore available for this friendly can send a reminder of what he can produce in attack.
Hiroki Abe – The highly-rated Japanese youngster is among the Barcelona B players set to be available, and the attacker arrived with plenty of expectations placed on him.
Junior Firpo – Has had plenty of first-team experience this season with Jordi Alba out injured and this is another chance to prove he can make the grade with Barca as he plays the role of senior defender.
While the squad will bare little resemblance, Barcelona’s first team did ensure they signed off for the international break by getting back to winning ways – Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick and Sergio Busquets adding the fourth as the Catalan giants thumped Celta Vigo 4-1 to stay top of La Liga.
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