Soccer Betting Preview |
Manchester United has enjoyed its United States summer tour by winning four exhibition contests versus Major League Soccer opponents, but the trip ends with a monumental fight in the nation’s capitol in taking on European champions FC Barcelona.
The contest between arguably the two most popular football clubs in the world will kick at 7 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2 at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
It wasn’t too long ago, May 28 to be exact, that Barcelona handed United a deflating 3-1 defeat in the UEFA Champions League final on its home pitch in front of a raucous crowd at Wembley Stadium. The result caused an immediate reaction of praise from MU’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“In everyone’s mind, they’re the best team, currently, in the world,” Ferguson stated. “I’m quite happy with second place at the moment in time because that’s their challenge: Our challenge will be to get to that level.”
Scoring 18 goals in four exhibition victories on this tour is certainly not going to elevate the club to Barca’s status, but it’s important to note that all forwards that have participated in the action have found the back of the net.
One player that will not be playing for the Reds is Mexico star Javier Hernandez, as he’s been ruled out after suffering a concussion. He will likely be off the pitch until the team opens up English Premier League action next month.
Barcelona will lay three games over the next two weeks in the U.S., playing against C.D. Guadalajara and Club America of Mexico following this much-anticipated contest.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that all of the South American players who played in Copa America, will be absent from the event, most notably Lionel Messi. The Argentinian is considered the best player in the world and provided a monster performance in the last meeting.
Xavi will also see no action, returning to training on Friday and is likely to serve as a team spokesman to media members for the tour. Many experts believe he was the top player in the match against United at Wembley.
Bettors will find that Barcelona is a slight -121 favorite in the contest and the total is 2.5 Over (-120) at Pinnacle Sports
