VFB Stuttgart V Barcelona Betting: UEFA Champions League

 

VFB Stuttgart V Barcelona

 

Tuesday, 23^rd February – 19:45 GMT

 

 

Introduction

  

Many were saying that the favourites for the competition outright, and the reigning European champions, Barcelona, were given a gift of a tie when drawing German side, VFB Stuttgart, in the last sixteen stage of the prestigious tournament. One brief look at the respective league tables would suggest that’s probably the case but the German side have established a decent run of form since the Champions League went on a two month break and Stuttgart fans will be more optimistic of their teams chances than you think due to their recent positive surge in results, so perhaps this isn’t as straightforward as it looks on paper.

  

If the result in this first leg was to be based around recent results, we should be in for one corker of a game. Stuttgart gave their hopes of pulling a big shock on Tuesday night, what would be the surprise of the round, a big boost when smashing five past FC Koln on Saturday, winning 5-1 away from home; while Barcelona were even more convincing than their German adversary’s when comfortably seeing to Racing Santander, winning 4-0 at the Nou Camp. Both won by a clear four goal margin, but will one of these two sides put a healthy gap between the other on Tuesday, heading into the penultimate second leg at the Nou Camp, in Spain, a fortnight later?

 

 

To Qualify

 

VFB Stuttgart – 8.00 bWin Barcelona – 1.11 totesport

 

 

 

VFB Stuttgart

 

Champions League Odds: 3/1 PaddyPower

  

There is no getting away from the fact that Stuttgart will enter the first of two legs in this last-sixteen encounter as the underdogs but their superb run of form back home may just have the Barcelona tacticians standing on edge. Swiss coach, Christian Gross, has now seen his Stuttgart side notch up an endless amount of wins in recent weeks, with his ever improving squad winning six of it’s last seven competitive games and have lost just once since the end of November. It’s close to perfect form heading into the clubs biggest game for years but is it enough to bridge the huge gulf in class between the two? 

 

Stuttgart were actually competing in the Group stages of the Champions League whilst staring relegation straight in the face back home in the German Bundesliga after a terrible start to the campaign; winning just two of their first sixteen league fixtures. However, a vital win just before the lengthy Christmas break enabled the club to rethink their strategy and their plans for the new year have worked out perfectly. They are up their with title chasing Bayern Munich in terms of recent form and they’ve finally gotten the hang of scoring goals. If they can maintain this type of form then Stuttgart will continue to rise up the Bundesliga table, but it’s a whole different ball game competing against mediocre sides in the German league than the Spanish giants of Barcelona.

  

While their form is tremendous right now, and this should bring about some renewed optimism at the club, Stuttgart still face an uphill challenge getting something out of the first leg, despite boasting home advantage. Their team on paper just doesn’t match up to that of Barcelona’s, which is filled to the brim with talent and superstars. Instead, Gross will be heavily relying on certain individuals for inspirational displays, none more so than veteran goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who was in inspired form at the weekend. The former Arsenal & German No.1 will come under siege in the Stuttgart goal on Tuesday night and will be hoping a defence which hasn’t kept a clean sheet in it’s last four league games does him a huge favour by restricting the flow of Barcelona attacks as much as possible.

  

Christian Gross has got what was a poor Stuttgart side playing in a more vigorous, confident manner, with plenty of attacking swagger and intent about them now. They were lethal on Saturday, breaking from defence to attack at an alarming rate and punishing a shoddy FC Koln severely with five goals. With their more glamorous opponents looking to dictate this game from the very start, Stuttgart may well have to deploy similar tactics on Tuesday night in a bid to snatch a few goals in Germany. The likes of Pogrebnyak, Alexandar Hlber, whom is on loan from Barcelona until the end of the season and will have a point to prove, and Cacau, a Brazilian striker with plenty of confidence after his four goal haul at the weekend, while need to be in tip-top shape and on top of their game if they are to cause Barcelona problems at the back.

 

 

Barcelona

 

Champions League Odds: 250/1 SportingBet

  

The reigning European Champions will go about their first assignment in the knock-out stage of the tournament in a professional, tidy manner when they aim to solidify their claims for a quarter-final place by beating Stuttgart in Germany on Tuesday night. It’s a game they are expected to win but it’s also a two-legged tie they are heavily fancied to sail through, so will this expectant pressure get to their heads or will they remain cool under the spotlight of millions of neutral onlookers? The bookies seem think so, but their German opponents will think otherwise and it’s down to the Catalan giants to put VFB Stuttgart firmly in their place with an authoritative performance on Tuesday night at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

  

Barcelona, whom lost their first game of the season in La Liga a fortnight ago, bounced straight back with a resounding victory at home to Racing Santander on Saturday with a 4-0 victory. Many of their the big names were out on that Nou Camp pitch on Saturday; Lionel Messi, Iniesta, Thierry Henry, the latter two both bagging a goal-a-piece, but they were missing two key players in Xavi Herandez & Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whilst Seydou Keita also didn’t feature for Pepe Guardiola’s side. Both Xavi & Keita have already been ruled out for this first leg encounter in Stuttgart, while we’re unsure as to why Ibrahimovic didn’t feature at all in Saturday’s emphatic win over Racing Club. The absence of Keita won’t be as pivotal as the void Xavi will leave as the latter is the key chance creator in the heart of a Barcelona midfield jam-packed with creative quality. However, the task of carving open a normally vulnerable Stuttgart defence appears to be solely down to Iniesta now, whom has the ability to open up any defence on his day with his sharp vision and pinpoint through balls. 

 

To add to Guardiola’s injury woes; both Eric Abidal & Dani Alves are ruled out of the first leg leaving Barcelona with a make-shift back four, one which did come unstuck against in their last away encounter at Athletico Madrid – A team which playing in a similar attacking vein as Stuttgart, with high-tempo breaks their main method of attack. We think it’s a fair assessment to say that Barcelona could concede at least a goal in Stuttgart because their defence isn’t at its strongest right now. However, baring all this in mind; the importance of controlling the game via the midfield is huge for Barca, and providing they can dictate the majority of the play, an exposed Barcelona defence might not come under as much scrutiny as predicted.

  

From Barcelona’s perspective; they will go out and try to get as many goals as possible in order to demoralise their opponents as they head back to Spain for the deciding second leg at the Nou Camp in a fortnights time. With their defence not at its sharpest right now, it’s doubly important that Barca’s glittering strike force of Messi, Henry and possibly Ibrahimovic, land the first blow in order to knock the stuffing out of their German opponents. If Barcelona do go behind, which is a realistic scenario considering their defensive predicament, then this first leg tie could quickly turn into a Gun-ho encounter, although this could actually play into their hands as the more goals they score in Germany, the higher their success rate of progressing due to away goals.

 

 

Barcelona still too strong…

 

A little off-topic from all the injury talk but we mustn’t disregard the fact that Barcelona do come into this Stuttgart meeting with an emphatic 4-0 win behind them and full of confidence knowing that only two teams have beaten them in all competitions this season, with those being two former Champions League sides in Rubin Kazan & Athletico Madrid. They’ve won the vast majority of their games back home in Spain, with a staggering eighteen wins from twenty-three league games, whilst they remain unbeaten away from home in the Champions League in nine games and will feel safe in the knowledge that they haven’t suffered defeat on German soil in their last six visits.

 

 

 

Match Verdict: Barcelona to WIN – 1.73 Boylesports

  

We fancy the Catalan giants to come through their first leg in Germany with a win, but it won’t be a clean ride. We think this tie definitely has goals in it, what with both sides looking to score pivotal first legs goals in order to enhance their chances of progression. Barcelona have the quality up top to give any defence the run around so we expect them to score a good few in Stuttgart, while the Germans desperately need a couple of goals in order to stand them in good stead for an almost impossible return leg in Spain. 

 

As far as winning this first leg goes; both sides actually have solid claims for a vital first leg win. Barcelona are the team we’ve opted for simply because they have the quality all over the park to control this game for large periods and they should ask most of the questions. However, Barcelona’s defence is so exposed and Stuttgart could be the ideal team to exploit this Barcelona flaw with their quick-fire breakaways. The Germans attack at pace and in large numbers and they could over run their Spanish opponents if they get their tactics spot on and keep their nerve in the vital moments.

  

You would have to fancy Barcelona’s chances of picking up the win in Germany, but Stuttgart are no forlorn hope and could spring a surprise on Tuesday night, although it goes without saying that they would need a huge performance from every single player.

 

 

 

SoccerBetting Tip: Over 2.5 Goals – 1.83 Coral

 

Both teams enter this pivotal first leg in a rich vein of goalscoring form, with Stuttgart scoring five at the weekend and Barcelona registering four. The pair have been scoring goals-a-plenty of late but it’s actually the way these two will set up which makes us think a glut of goals could be on the cards. Stuttgart will be a lively match up for Barcelona, especially when the German side break out from defence and they will cause an injury ravaged Barca defence plenty of problems and provide them with a lot of intriguing questions. While we all know the damage Barcelona can cause when going forward. This game does have the makings to be a thrilling affair and we would genuinely be surprised if this turned out to be a dull 0-0 encounter.

 

 

 

Match Odds:

 

VFB Stuttgart – 5.50 PaddyPower

Draw – 3.90 bWin

Barcelona – 1.73 Boylesports