Barcelona
Royal Antwerp
100% Bonus up to $108
On September 19, Estadio Olímpico (Barcelona) will host the match of the 1st round of the Champions League, in which Barcelona will compete with Antwerp. The battle will start at 21:00 CET.
Barcelona
The club is embarking on a new championship cycle, bearing in mind the spectacularly unsuccessful performance in both 2021 and 2022. “The Blaugrana” managed to finish the group stage only in the 3rd place twice in a row – as a result, it appeared in the Europa League (where the team also could not continue the European way). On the other hand, perhaps it was getting rid of the international burden that allowed Xavi and his players to finally win titles, first, the Super Cup and, then, the Primera trophy. It goes without saying that now everyone is expecting a breakthrough from the team, especially since it has improved quite well during the summer. Moreover, the squad has clearly become more “combat-ready”: finally, there is no Bayern and the previous offender, Inter, is also absent, but with the Belgian club, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk. Generally speaking, it seems that “the Culés” have to be the first in the group.
Antwerp
The team is rightfully considered to be the historical giant of Belgian football. Still, then there was a long “vegetation”, after which the positions were gradually regained. At first, it was possible to simply return to the Jupiler Pro League, then, it won a trophy in the form of the Belgian Cup, and began to have a more or less stable start at the European arena. The previous season stands apart: the Dutch pair of the sporting director, Overmars, and the coach, van Bommel, led “the Great Old” to the so-called “golden double”. And the new sports year began with winning the Super Cup of the country. Moreover, the club managed to cope with AEK in the Champions League qualification. The only goal of the home match was scored by the experienced footballer, Janssen, and then, thanks to Balikwisha’s goal and assist, the team added another 2-1 success in Athens.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Barcelona hosts Antwerp for the first time. Still, we remember that Van Bommel played for “the Culés” in 2005/2006.
Predictions
Bookmakers consider “more than a club” to be the clear favourite of the following battle. Here we recommend betting that Xavi will be able to beat Van Bommel with “a -2 goal handicap” (odd: 1.84).
100% Bonus up to $108
