Coach Paco López wasn’t thrilled when Granada mounted an astonishing comeback to tie 3-3 with Almera in La Liga (LL) play last weekend after falling down 3-0. He believed that his team was “superior for 85 minutes” of the match, which prolonged their run of games without a victory (D2, L3). With an average of 4.3 total goals scored each league game, Granada’s matches have undoubtedly been the most entertaining for viewers from all backgrounds.
A matchup with Barcelona could possibly serve as the cure for their issues as they plan their climb out of the relegation zone.
The fact that they are playing here, where they have only one league victory this season, gives Granada even more confidence. They are unbeaten in their past three LL H2Hs (W1, D2), which is now their best-ever such run against the Catalans.
More recently, Barcelona won 1-0 over Porto in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) midweek match to mark coach Xavi’s 100th game in charge of the team. This was Barcelona’s eighth victory in their last nine competitive games (D1). They are “dealing with the ghosts” of losing in the group stage of their last two UCLs, according to Xavi, who also said that they must now turn their attention to their domestic campaign, where they are one point behind archrivals Real Madrid.
However, Barcelona hasn’t performed at their peak level while on the road this year.
Only two of their games on the road—including their most recent league trip to Mallorca, when they had to fight back twice from goals down to draw 2-2—failed to yield a complete point (D2).
Observe these players: Bryan Zaragoza scored the first goal for Granada against Almera in their most recent game, and all three of his La Liga goals this year have come in contests that saw at least five goals scored overall. Contrarily, Ferran Torres scored in his only individual LL H2H, which resulted in a 2-0 victory for his then-employers Valencia and was the player who gave Barcelona their lone goal against Porto in the UCL.
An average of one red card was issued in each of Barcelona’s last five competitive road games.
