Osasuna v Sevilla
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Friday 12th August – 8:00PM KO
It’s Osasuna vs Sevilla to kick off the new La Liga season on Friday night, which is not the fixture Julen Lopetegui and Sevilla would have wanted. Osasuna are a physical, solid and well-drilled side, who’ll look to take advantage of the fact that Sevilla are thoroughly unprepared for the start of the season.
The team that finished fourth last campaign have had a difficult summer, most significantly losing both of their starting centre-backs, Jules Koundé and Diego Carlos, and replacing them so far with just one player, Marcão, who is injured for this season opener. That means Sevilla travel to Pamplona with just one centre-back in their squad. Yes, just one, the very underwhelming Karim Rekik, who should be partnered by defensive midfielder Nemanja Gudelj in central defence.
It’s not just at centre-back that Sevilla have issues. They still haven’t signed a reliable centre-forward, which was a problem all of last season, while summer signing Isco isn’t ready in time for this first game of the season. By the end of the window, Sevilla sporting director Monchi will surely have worked his magic. But, in terms of Matchday 1, Sevilla aren’t as ready as they should be, which is a problem considering they have this tough away fixture to start, and they only won six out of 19 away matches in LaLiga last term.
Osasuna, in contrast, are well-prepared for this game. They completed the business they wanted to early in the window and they finished pre-season well, winning their final three warm-up games – one against Feyenoord and then a couple against second division Spanish sides.
The only real setback in the build-up to this game from an Osasuna point of view is that third-choice centre-back Aridane Hernández has pulled out of the squad due to a bereavement, but he wasn’t likely to start anyway. So, Osasuna look to be in a good position to exploit a Sevilla side that, quite frankly, isn’t really ready for the season to start.
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Prediction: Osasuna Double Chance, 1.50 on Betfair (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
Barcelona v Rayo Vallecano
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Saturday 13th August – 8:00PM KO
Following Barcelona’s resurgence towards the end of last season under Xavi and their busy summer of spending, there is maximum optimism at the Camp Nou. The fans expect the team to challenge for the league title again and they couldn’t have asked for a kinder opening fixture than Rayo Vallecano at home.
While it’s true that Rayo Vallecano did the double against Barça last term, winning both games 1-0, it’s important to remember than one of those wins was when Ronald Koeman was in charge and that the other was a fluky victory against Xavi’s Barcelona when the Catalans didn’t even have much to play for.
When it comes to Rayo Vallecano, a more accurate measure of their standing is the fact that they were the very worst LaLiga team in the calendar year of 2022. They may have finished 12th last season, but that was due to their bright start. After the turn of the year, they took just 12 points from a possible 60, an even worse record than each of the relegated teams.
There is little reason to believe that Rayo Vallecano will be better at the start of this new season, as their squad was weakened in the summer. Top scorer Sergi Guardiola has left, while the only promising arrival is that of veteran goalkeeper Diego López, yet he could miss this season opener with injury.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have strengthened considerably and should be able to give competitive debuts to the likes of Jules Koundé, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski on Saturday night. There are some doubts over Barça’s ability to register these players with LaLiga in time for kick-off, but sources inside the club are confident that they can at least register the most important of the new arrivals.
So, expect a strong and reinforced Barcelona XI to take on a Rayo Vallecano side that finished last season badly and that have been weakened since then. The Camp Nou crowd might be in for a treat.
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Prediction: Barcelona -1, 1.62 on Betfair (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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