Fati, Depay to Shine for Barcelona

“Koeman Out” is trending on the Internet but it looks like manager Ronald Koeman will continue till the end of the season, even after this nightmare start. The good thing about all this mess is that the players, starting with captain Gerard Pique, are always positive and fully focused in saying they can still save the season despite their negative results.

Most soccer cappers are surprised to see Barcelona priced at -375 with the latest soccer odds given all their problems, but not us. At the end of the day, after two defeats in a row, Barcelona bounced back by beating Valencia 3-1 with Ansu Fati, Memphis Depay and Philippe Coutinho contributing on the scoreboard. The win will surely provide some much-needed confidence in the locker room preparing them for a huge week ahead.

Sergio Aguero came from the bench in the final minutes of the game to make his Barcelona debut, four months after signing with the hosts. He will probably lead the attacking line and start scoring for his new club.

On the other side, Dynamo Kyiv won just one in their previous eight UCL fixtures failing to find the back of the net on four occasions. On top of that, they have many injury issues in their attacking line with Artem Besedin, Vladyslav Kulach and Ibrahim Kargbo being ruled out for this clash. We don’t expect them to pull off the upset and return home with points and we believe they will find it very tough to score. Barcelona should have enough to cover the -1½-goal spread and the attacking trio of Depay, Sergio Aguero and Fati are eager to deliver.

Pick: Barcelona -1½ goals (-130)

Young Boys vs Villarreal: High-scoring Affair

Young Boys are the surprise package of this group. They managed to pull off the upset on Matchday 1, beating Premier League giants Manchester United 2-1 on their home turf, helped by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s red card in the 35th minute of the match. Usually, they are an attacking minded team, always playing on the front foot and always trying to bring many balls in the opposition box. Strangely, though, in the second game against Atalanta, they had a defensive approach to finally conceding the losing goals in the 68th minute of the game.

They are still considered as group underdogs, and they are priced at +220 to beat Villarreal with the best soccer odds. Unai Emery and Co. have earned just one point from the opening two rounds, and they can’t afford to drop points in the upcoming doubleheader against Young Boys.

They are the Europa League reigning champs, but they have a poor start to their 2021-22 campaign. They won just two La Liga games in eight rounds, sitting 12th in the Spanish top-flight league standings, and they are winless so far in the Champions League. This game is a must win for them and they enter this clash with no injury issues having their main starting XI at their disposal.

If in the last match against Atalanta, Young Boys surprisingly had a defensive plan, we don’t expect them to have the same approach against Villarreal. They are known for playing high-scoring games and we expect them to bounce back and find the back of the net. Villarreal will come to win this game and on paper they have the better and experienced team. We can see this game ending with three or more goals, so our second pick of the parlay is over 2½ goals.

Pick: Over 2½ goals at -130