FC Barcelona vs UD Almería – 05/11/2022
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Barcelona have recently become the favourites to win La Liga in the eyes of many after their excellent run of form since losing the El Clasico as they welcome UD Almería to the Camp Nou in what is set to be Gerard Pique’s final game in football.
Pique decided on Thursday night that this would be his final game in club football and he is expected to retire after the game in front of his own fans.
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— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 4, 2022
After winning so many league titles, coming through the youth system, signing for Manchester United before returning to Barcelona, the Spanish legend will now hang up his boots.
Barcelona have also now gone on to win two games in a row since the damning loss to Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou, as they edged past Valencia last weekend before beating Viktoria Plzen 4-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
It does now mean the La Liga giants will be playing their European football in the Europa League next season, but they do have to go through the playoffs first.
On the other hand to the woes in Europe, they have managed to win 10 games, the same as the league leaders Real Madrid, and the only reason they sit behind the champions is only because of that loss in Madrid a few weeks back.
However, quite stunningly, Barcelona have the best defensive record in Spain and across Europe this season, conceding just four goals all season.
This now means Xavi has led his to three clean sheets in La Liga ever since the loss to Real, beating Villarreal 3-0, Athletic Club 4-0 and Valencia 1-0 – no side comes near to their defensive excellence in 2022/23.
As for Almeria, their recent wins have rocketed them far away from the relegation zone and now into 13th in the table.
Rubi has managed to lead his side to a win over Girona two weeks ago and then a 3-1 victory over Celta Vigo, which now means they have scored seven goals in their past three games, although they did lose to Villarreal in between these wins.
Barcelona should ease to victory here given how they have only conceded a goal in two La Liga games and have kept 10 clean sheets in 12 league outings already. Almeria have improved recently, but it’s doubtful they will get anything out of this one.
Forebet predicts a win for Xavi’s men and for the game to see over 2.5 goals.
