Manchester City vs Barcelona: Friendly Match Prediction

2024-07-31 01:00
Friendly Match

2024-07-31 01:00:00
Friendly Match

In 7 matches against Barcelona, Manchester City has only 1 victory – 3:1 in the group stage of the 2016/17 Champions League. Barcelona has won five times against Manchester City. The last game between these teams ended in a 3:3 draw. It was a friendly match in the summer of 2022.

Manchester City

The past season was quite ambiguous for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s team snatched the Premier League title at the very end, finishing just two points ahead of Arsenal. However, this was the only trophy for Man City in the 2023/24 season. In the Champions League quarterfinals, the “Citizens” lost to Real Madrid in a penalty shootout, and they unexpectedly lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

In the USA, Man City has already played two friendly matches, losing both. First, they were defeated by Milan 2-3, and then they lost to Celtic 3-4. However, it should be noted that Man City played these games with highly experimental lineups, as Rodri, Ake, Stones, Walker, Ruben Dias, and several other key players had not yet returned from their holidays.

Barcelona

At the end of the past season, Barcelona finished without any trophies. The Catalans ended up second in La Liga and lost to PSG in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. In the Copa del Rey, Blaugrana were knocked out by Athletic Bilbao (2-4) in the quarterfinals. As a result, the head coach, Xavi, lost his job, and former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick was appointed in his place.

Barcelona only arrived in the USA a few days ago, so the match against Man City will be their first. In their only friendly match this summer, Barcelona defeated Olot, a fourth-division team, 1-0. It’s hard to predict what lineup Barca will use, as Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres are still on vacation, Fermín López and Pau Cubarsi are playing in the Olympics, and Ronald Araújo, Gavi, and Pedri are unavailable due to injuries. Despite many rumors, Barcelona has not yet managed to sign any new players.

Prediction

The matches against Celtic and AC Milan demonstrated that Manchester City, with a suboptimal lineup, is far from their best performance, especially in defense. It is unlikely that anything will fundamentally change today. Barcelona is certainly not weaker than the previous opponents and is quite capable of playing for a draw against the English giants.

Our prediction is – Barcelona will not lose, with odds of 1.81.

For exhibition friendly matches, scoring and spectacle are important. So far, Manchester City has fully met this task, with their matches being exciting. It's unlikely that anything will change in the game against Barcelona.

Second bet – total over 3.5 goals at 1.74.

Place a bet on the line of 1xBet with odds of 1.81.

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