Barcelona vs Royal Antwerp Prediction & Betting Tips - Champions League

Prediction published on 17/09/2023, 09:55  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 17/09/2023 at 10:49 in Champions League Predictions

Barcelona begin their 2023-24 Champions League campaign with a home game against Royal Antwerp. This is a match in Group H with the other two teams being Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk. Barca will be going all out to avoid a third season in which they fail to get out of their Champions League group. The past two seasons have seen them finish third and go into the Europa League. They didn't go deep in that competition either which added to their upset. This isn't the easiest of groups but they should be able to finish in the top two. They have made a strong start to the new La Liga season with four wins and a draw (in their opening match) from their first five fixtures. Saturday saw them get a convincing 5-0 home win over Real Betis with each goal being scored by a different player. That makes it 13 goals in their last four matches. Home form has seen them only lose two of their last 18 competitive games. 

Not since the 1957-58 season have Royal Antwerp played in Europe's top club competition. That was their only appearance and they lost 8-1 on aggregate to Real Madrid. Their best recent appearance was making it to the last 32 of the Europa League two seasons ago. The Reds are fifth in the Belgian Jupiler League this season after six games. They have only lost one match so far losing 1-0 away at Anderlecht. Their most recent game saw them win 3-0 at Westerlo to extend their unbeaten run to six games. Only two of their last seven away matches has ended in success and we don't expect a win here. Our tip is a win for Barcelona with them leading at both half and full time.