Barcelona v Bayern Munich: Germans will win battle of the giants

Barcelona v Bayern Munich: Germans will win battle of the giants

Dan Fitch is expecting goals and a Bayern Munich win when they face crisis club Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Barca now a big underdog at home

The undoubted highlight of this first round of Champions League group games, is this Group E clash between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

It will take some getting used to seeing Barcelona ranked as the underdogs at home, but it's a clear sign of their decline. Barca let a lot of players ago this summer, due to the club's financial crisis, with Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann the most notable departures. The late loan signing of the 31-year old Luuk de Jong, who only scored nine goals in 48 appearances for Sevilla last season, smacked of a desperation to get any player in to boost their forward line, having lost two superstars.

Bayern also saw some big names depart this summer, but David Alaba was the only player that they would have liked to keep. In have come Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sabitzer from RB Leipzig, adding further quality to a squad that are aiming to win a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title.

At the weekend Bayern won 4-1 at Leipzig to carry on their unbeaten start to the season in the Bundesliga (P4 W3 D1). Barcelona are also unbeaten (P3 W2 D1) and one of the few advantages they have going into this game is that their scheduled match over the weekend against Sevilla was postponed, due to players from both sides being unavailable following their involvement in the South American World Cup qualifiers.

Expect goals at Camp Nou

Bayern Munich are the 2.08 favourites, with Barcelona at 3.4 the draw at 4.0.

Barcelona have conceded in all three of their games, which includes three goals from their two at home. As much as Barca are now weaker in attack without Messi and Griezmann, it's still a relatively strong area of their team, especially when compared to their defence.

Bayern's four Bundesliga games have seen them score 13 goals, in addition to the three they scored against Borussia Dortmund when winning the Super Cup. Backing a Bayern win and over 2.5 goals boosts their price to 2.63.

Under new manager Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern have not yet established defensive solidity. They've conceded in three of their four Bundesliga matches, which makes an away win and both teams to score another option at 3.3. Robert Lewandowski has already scored eight goals in five games this season and can be backed at 1.78 to add to his tally.