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Birmingham City have set up an eye-catching pre-season friendly with Barcelona at St. Andrew's on Friday night.
The Championship side have won all four of their friendlies so far, but this will undoubtedly be their biggest test.
Meanwhile, Barcelona opened their preparations for the new season with a 4-1 win against CE Europa, and should be favourites to get another victory here.
Read our prediction, preview and betting tips for the game below, and make sure to check out our today's betting tips page for more of our expert predictions.
Birmingham City vs. Barcelona key stats
- Birmingham are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions (W7, D2).
- Barcelona have lost their last two away matches.
- BTTS has come through in Barcelona's previous three outings across all competitions.
Birmingham City vs. Barcelona preview: Blues to give Barca problems?
Birmingham vs Barcelona — Tale of the Tape
| Birmingham | vs | Barcelona |
|---|---|---|
| 10th (Championship) | Position | 1st (LaLiga) |
| 64 | Points | 94 |
| 57 | Goals For | 95 |
| 56 | Goals Against | 36 |
| 10 | Clean Sheets | 15 |
| 4th | Home / Away Rank | 2nd |
After a record-breaking total of 111 points sent them up to the Championship as League One champions in 2024/25, Birmingham solidified their place in the division with a 10th-place finish.
Backed by heavy investment, the Blues have the ambition of returning to the Premier League, but as shown last season, the Championship has its difficulties.
As such, Chris Davies has been backed with four new signings so far this summer, including the permanent arrival of Jhon Solis following a successful loan spell from Girona, and exciting striker Luis Vazquez from Anderlecht, who could make his debut here.
Birmingham have had an excellent pre-season so far with four straight wins, but they would do very well to upset the odds here and record a fifth.
Unlike their opponents, Barcelona have only had one friendly so far, and are behind Birmingham in terms of fitness.
However, Hansi Flick's side still possess plenty of quality that can really hurt the Blues, even on their own patch.
Barca come into this in high spirits after another LaLiga title triumph, while a number of their players also won the World Cup with Spain.
Those players will not be involved at St. Andrew's, but new signing Karim Adeyemi is in line to make his debut.
Birmingham City vs. Barcelona form guide & betting tips
| Birmingham | vs | Barcelona |
|---|---|---|
DWWWW |
Form | WLWLW |
| 10 | Goals For | 10 |
| 3 | Goals Against | 6 |
WWW |
Friendlies | W |
Whispers predicts: Birmingham 1-2 Barcelona
Barcelona are 73/100 (1.73) favourites to win, but while we agree with the bookies, we would like to explore some more ambitious bets.
Combining Barcelona to win and BTTS – Yes at 7/4 (2.75) holds better value, as we fancy Birmingham to score at home given their higher fitness levels and results in pre-season so far.
Having not been picked for Germany's World Cup squad, Adeyemi is fresh and ready to hit the ground running.
He hit double figures for goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League combined for Borussia Dortmund last season, and at the same price as our first pick, Adeyemi to score anytime at 7/4 (2.75) could be worth a punt.
Overall, we are predicting a Correct score – 1-2 at 8/1 (9.00), as he feel Barcelona's extra quality may help them edge this one.
> Barcelona to win and BTTS – Yes at 7/4 (2.75) | Likelihood: Possible
> Adeyemi to score anytime at 7/4 (2.75) | Likelihood: Possible
> Correct score – 1-2 at 8/1 (9.00) | Likelihood: Outsider