Barcelona vs Brest Prediction: Raphinha can be amongst the goals…again

Barcelona have found the back of the net 27 times in seven matches at home and Over 3.5 Goals has hit in six of their past seven, including both home and away matches. This might be why this is one of Mark Sochon's Best Bets for Tuesday's Champions League clash (20:00 on TNT Sports 4).

You can read his full match preview below along with his other top tip as he takes us through his Barcelona vs Brest Predictions for us on Betfred Insights...

*You can check out all of our Football Odds over at betfred.com

We've reached the halfway point of the new league phase in the UEFA Champions League and the race to finish in the top eight positions is heating up. Two teams very much in the mix are Barcelona and Brest. The clubs meet on Tuesday at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. 

Barça are currently in 6th place and are one of the favourites to secure direct passage into the round-of-16. However, they currently trail Brest by a point, with the French side one of the surprise packages in the competition so far. 

Hansi Flick's side head into this game after a slight wobble in La Liga. They'd won seven in a row in all competitions, including big victories over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, before a 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad just prior to the international break. 

Hungry to bounce back at Balaídos on Saturday, everything appeared to be heading in the right direction for Barcelona as goals from Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski put them 2-0 in front. 

However, everything unravelled in a nightmare five minute spell late in the game. Marc Casadó's second yellow card offered hope to Celta Vigo and moments later, Jules Koundé's mistake gifted the Galicians a goal back. Hugo Álvarez struck just two minutes later to level the game as Barça's lead at the top of La Liga was cut for the second matchday in a row. 

After a couple of challenging away days, they'll be glad to get back to the Estadi Olímpic on Tuesday. The venue has been a happier temporary home for the Catalan giants this season than was the case last term, with Flick's men winning seven out of seven in front of their own fans. 

Barça are averaging 3.86 goals per home game, having rattled in 17 in their last four outings at the Estadi Olímpic. They've netted nine times across their two home Champions League fixtures against Young Boys and Bayern Munich, and will be very well-placed to secure a top eight finish if they can also win this game. 

The same is certainly true of Brest who are having a stunning debut European campaign. While their schedule has been favourable so far, Éric Roy's side have defied all expectations by collecting 10 points from their opening four Champions League fixtures. 

They started with an Austrian double-header, beating Sturm Graz 2-1 at home, before a stunning 4-0 win in Salzburg. They backed that up with a 1-1 draw against German champions Bayer Leverkusen at the Stade de Roudourou, before another 2-1 triumph away to Sparta Prague last time out. 

With 10 points, they are already all but certain to reach at least the knockout phase play-offs in February. A couple of wins would most likely see them progress into the round-of-16, although that won't be easy with Barcelona and Real Madrid still to play. 

Brest's Champions League heroics are all the more surprising, given their poor domestic form. They've lost seven out of 12 in Ligue 1 so far, with defeats in each of their last three fixtures seeing them drop into the bottom half. 

They head into this game after a 3-2 defeat away to fellow Champions League participants Monaco on Friday. Les Pirates gave a good account of themselves in that match, with Abdallah Sima and Ludovic Ajorque getting on the scoresheet, but ultimately it was to no avail as Adi Hütter's team grabbed all the points. 

Team News: 

Lamine Yamal was missing again for Barcelona in Vigo at the weekend, and injury is expected to rule the teenager out of this game too. Ronald Araújo and Ferrán Torres are the other two Barça injury absentees considered closest to a return, but following longer spells on the sidelines, neither will be rushed back into the starting lineup. 

Marc-André ter Stegen, Ansu Fati, Marc Bernal and Andreas Christensen will definitely miss the game due to their own injuries. We're likely to see light changes from Flick following Saturday's draw, with Alejandro Balde and Frenkie de Jong the two players most likely to be recalled. 

As for Brest, they travel to the Catalan capital with some notable injury problems of their own. Massadio Haidara, Romain Faivre and Soumaila Coulibaly are all expected to miss the game. Key midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou, a scorer against Leverkusen last month, also looks as though he won't be back until the new year. 

Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima is also a fitness concern heading into this. Roy will be desperate to have the 23-year-old available given his return of three goals in three Champions League outings so far. 

Barcelona vs Brest Odds

Despite their fine start to the Champions League, Brest are a huge price of 16/1 (6%) to win this game. Barcelona are very short at 1/7 (88%), while you can back the Draw at 15/2 (12%). 

If you fancy the Catalans to record another dominant home Champions League victory, you can back Barça to win both halves at 1/1, a winning bet in each of their last three games in this competition. Barcelona -2.00 Handicap is priced at 21/20, while the home team are on offer at 5/6 to win the game to nil. 

Brest are on offer at 10/11 to score over 0.5 goals in this game. The French side can also be backed at 7/4 with a +2.00 Handicap if you're expecting them to at least make a game of this. Meanwhile Brest or Draw is on offer at 4/1 in the Double chance market as the visitors bid to extend their unbeaten start to their debut European campaign. 

If they're to do that, they'll need to keep Robert Lewandowski quiet. The veteran striker has netted 20 goals already this season in 18 club appearances. You can back Lewandowski to score first at 5/2 here, while he's priced at 8/15 to score anytime. 

From a Brest perspective, Abdallah Sima is available at 9/2 to score anytime, while powerful striker Ludovic Ajorque is available at 5/1 in the same market. 

Bet 1 - Over 3.5 goals @ 5/6 

Brest are saving their best football for this competition and having scored nine times in their opening four Champions League fixtures, there's every chance they can pose some problems for their illustrious hosts. 

Barça will be hurting after two poor league results though and they could unleash some of that anger on the French side here. They've been outstanding going forwards this season and with two of the form attacking players in Europe in the shape of Lewandowski and Raphinha, this has the potential to be another high scoring game for Flick's team. 

There have been four or more goals in six of their last seven fixtures in all competitions. I can see a repeat here, so I'm backing Over 3.5 goals at 5/6. 

Bet 2 - Raphinha to score anytime @ 1/1 

There's just no stopping Raphinha right now and the winger has undergone a dramatic transformation from a player who was seen as being potentially surplus to requirements in the summer, to being an integral part of this side. His high energy approach is certainly a good fit for Flick's style of play, but nobody envisaged the Brazilian being quite this productive in terms of his goal contributions. 

Raphinha has scored eight and assisted six times in his last nine Barça appearances. He's the joint top scorer in the league phase of the Champions League with five goals, alongside Lewandowski, as well as Harry Kane and Viktor Gyökeres.  

On current form, there's every chance of the winger getting on the scoresheet again here and I'm backing Raphinha to score anytime at 1/1. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out Mark's Football Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights writers on our Football home page...