EPL and La Liga: Clash of the Titans [June 30 & July 2]

What an exciting week for football fans with fixtures every day! 

I had no choice but to focus on the Clashes of The Giants in the two major leagues. 

This article presents my picks on

• La Liga: FC Barcelona vs Athletico
• EPL: Manchester City vs Liverpool

This article is my humble opinion, it is not gambling advice.

PREDICITON: Barca wins

Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid in a bid to push pressure on Real Madrid in the culminating last weeks of La Liga. Barcelona currently sit behind Real Madrid in second and ideally need a win against A. Madrid to keep themselves in contention of the league title. Barcelona come into this game with 3 wins and 2 draws since their return to league football and will need to topple a resilient Atletico Madrid defend to keep their unbeaten run of form going. Diego Simeone’s men find themselves in great form also, with 4 wins and 1 draw since their return to league action. Whilst Atletico Madrid are safely out of the title race, they will be looking to cement their top four place whilst perhaps preparing their squad for the latter stages of Champions League football. Although Atletico beat Barcelona in their last meeting in a Super Cup tie, Madrid have failed to beat Barcelona in 10 years¹ in La Liga football – an impressive record for Barcelona. Based on previous meetings Barcelona will have far greater possession than Atletico and will most likely make Atletico pay for that. Atletico may have a strong defence but if Barcelona keep trying to penetrate them with help from the likes of Lionel Messi, they will eventually find a way through Simeone’s men who will struggle to get back into the game at the Camp Nou. I see Barcelona grabbing a narrow 1-0 or 2-1 win here and pushing on for the league title.

Manchester City vs Liverpool

PREDICTION: Liverpool wins

The two English giants face off again in a fixture that has less riding on it than it did 6 months ago. Liverpool have clinched the title early on and Manchester City do not have much to play for but bragging rights. Liverpool will be gunning to break City’s points record so Pep may have his team geared up to prevent a Liverpool win. Both sides have looked back to their best returning from the break, City in particular with 9 goals in 3 games. Although, City’s susceptible defence once again let them down against Chelsea in a loss that handed Liverpool the title. Without Fernandinho they may struggle to break up Liverpool’s tireless midfield. With Liverpool high in spirits after being declared English champions, they may well have a point to prove by beating City and showing everybody why they deserve to be called champions. Liverpool may look to take advantage of the absence of Fernandinho who has so often had a huge part to play in games between these two recent rivals. Sergio Aguero usually performs well against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium although Pep will have to make do with Gabriel Jesus or Bernando Silva up front as Aguero continues to face injury problems². Liverpool will be without James Milner although with Andrew Robertson back in the team, this shouldn’t be much of an issue. I see Liverpool clinching this game by using their blistering pace on the counter-attack to break down City’s quite unreliable defence. Without Aguero up front, City will struggle to break down Liverpool’s defence and may become overrun in the midfield without the presence of tireless Brazilian midfielder, Fernandinho.