Tuesday Football Tips: Alba can assist again for Barca

Barcelona have secured Champions League football for next season so it’s job done for Xavi as they host Celta Vigo on Tuesday.

With the state of the club when he took over, it’s been about as good as you could have imagined for Xavi, with Barca in second place behind Real Madrid.

They of course had that incredible victory at the Bernabeu against the Champions League finalists, and for the last few games it’s all about players auditioning to be part of Xavi’s plans next season.

Barca will want to ensure they finished second, and after Xavi admitted it was a weight off his shoulder to secure a 19th straight Champions League campaign for his side, we could see his side play a lot more freely.

That will help as their form at the Nou Camp recently has been poor, after suffering three straight defeats including a pair of 1-0 upsets against Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano.

So let’s assume we’ll get some goals here to get near the 3-3 thriller we saw in the reverse fixture this season.

That means a chance for Jordi Alba to make it three games in a row with a goal involvement, after bagging an assist against Mallorca and a goal and assist against Real Betis.

Alba also had two assists in the first game against Celta this season, and is 4.3100/30 to add another assist here.

One of those assists against Celta came for talented teenager Ansu Fati – and the same duo combined for a goal against Betis last time out.

Fati has had seriously injury problems this season but has looked sharp in two substitute appearances and could get some extra minutes here.

Despite his injury problems, the 19-year-old has averaged a goal every 60 minutes and even if he starts on the bench he looks keen to make up for lost time.