BARCELONA VS SPORTING GIJON LA LIGA BETTING TIPS

After winning the UEFA Super Cup in extra time last week, Barcelona are finally kicking off their La Liga season and, rightly, they are very strong favourites to do the business over Sporting Gijon at Camp Nou this evening. Currently listed by top bookmaker 888sport as the 1/7 favourites, Barca look set to rout their Spanish opposition in today's fixture. Even the odds on the draw are a very long 13/2 with Gijon listed at an outright price of 16/1 to take the victory. For my money, you can't bet against Barcelona- not in a match like this. The bookmakers favour goals in this match-up, a lot of goals, with 4 or more paying out at evens. 0 or 1 goals scored pays a massive 11/2 and 2 or 3 goals (usually the favourite) pays 23/20. In terms of the handicap betting, even Barcelona (-1.0) is a mere 4/9. You can also back Barca (-2.0) at evens. In terms of the correct score betting, you'll need to back Barca to win by a 5-0 margin before you start looking at serious money. That scoreline would pay out at 16/1 while 4-0 is 9/1, 3-0 is 11/2 and a 2-0 victory is the favoured margin at a mere 5/1. Barcelona to win both halves is listed at 4/9 while Draw/Barcelona is listed at 10/3. The favoured result for half-time score is 1-0 to Barca at 12/5. I like the 2-0 margin at 7/2 and the 3-0 at 7/1 if Gijon are really playing crap. For goalscorer betting, Lionel Messi is the outright favourite to score at 3/1 first and last and 8/11 anytime. Big Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available at 10/3 first or last and 4/5 anytime. Thierry Henry is 4/1 first/last and 10/11 anytime. Having three goal scorers at an odds-on price is indicative of a team that's going to dominate. Bojan Krkic is 5/1 first/last and 11/10 anytime. You can back a few different specials and the stand-outs to me are Leo Messi to score & Barca to win at 5/6- nearly a certainty unless Messi gets injured. And I also like Xavi to score and Barca to win at 3/1. SCORECAST TIPLeo Messi/Barcelona 5-0 @ 50/1.