SATURDAY IN EUROPE: The Ultra previews Saturday’s games between BAYERN MUNICH v MAINZ, EINTRACHT FRANKFURT v DORTMUND and VALENCIA v BARCELONA all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
BAYERN MUNICH V MAINZ
2.30pm The European fixtures are coming thick and fast, and we have another cracking Saturday on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. I was only looking at the domestic schedule before the World Cup this week, and you can really see that they are trying to squeeze in as many fixtures as possible between now and the World Cup. We could easily see some players burnt out at the World Cup, and especially coming to the end of the domestic season too. We might get some shock results in that sense! We kick off Saturday in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich hosting Mainz though, and the German Champions will be fully expected to win this game. They are currently trading as short as 1.28 at the time of writing, which is surely one of the shortest prices around Europe today. It’s fair to say that Bayern Munich haven’t been at their brilliant best in the Bundesliga this season because they start the weekend one point behind league leaders Union Berlin, however they will still win the title. It was a very good weekend for them last weekend in that sense with Union Berlin losing an Bayern winning to close the gap to only one point. Dortmund have been well off the pace this season, and it seems a matter of time before Bayern take over at the top.
Mainz have made a very positive start to the season though, and they start the weekend sitting in sixth place. It would be a massive achievement for them if they could stay there and get some European football. They finished just outside the European places last season but that was an improvement from 12th the season before. They are a side heading in the right direction, but it’s hard to see them living with Bayern here. I feel this is a case of how many goals can Bayern score rather than will they win. Mainz were very impressive last weekend in a 5-0 win at home to Koln, but possibly the key there was they were at home. Away from home this season they have been OK, but last season they finished second last in the away form table. That’s something they have clearly worked on this season, but they will still struggle here. I can see plenty of goals between two attacking sides, and Over 3.5 goals is worth backing at 1.82 to kick off the weekend.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Over 3.5 goals at 1.82 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BayMai
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT V DORTMUND
5.30pm We stay in the Bundesliga next as Eintracht Frankfurt host Dortmund. As I said above, Dortmund have been a little off the pace in the Bundesliga this season. That was probably expected after losing Erling Haaland – how can you replace a player like that after all but it has been a shame that they haven’t been able to take advantage of Bayern Munich dropping points earlier in the season. Although they started this weekend “only” three points behind Bayern, they are sitting outside the top four and it just seems they have already lost their chance to be competitive this season. With a lightening fast start to the season they could have put some distance between themselves and Bayern but they just haven’t been good enough. They played out a reasonably boring 0-0 draw with Manchester City midweek in the Champions League and that leaves them with only one win in their last five games in all competitions. They have had to play Bayern Munich and Manchester City in that run, so let’s not be too harsh. Eintracht Frankfurt were also in action in the Champions League midweek, and they recorded a massive win over Marseille to really spice things up in their Group. There’s now only two points between all four sides, and that will make for an interesting final Matchday!
Probably expected, we have the most open market of the day in the Bundesliga here. Dortmund come into the game as favourites – currently trading 2.46 at the time of writing – but this will be a very tough test. Eintracht Frankfurt have been rock solid this season, and actually sit above Dortmund in the table. They put Bayer Leverkusen to the sword here in their last home game with a 5-1 win, and although they have had setbacks away from home they have been very comfortable at home. Only Bayern Munich outplayed them here. Much like the market, I would expect a very close game here without much between the sides. Even though we have an open market, I would actually have the betting even more open – I would have Frankfurt a little shorter with home advantage and Dortmund a little bigger. Dortmund haven’t really set the world on fire this season yet, and I think they’ll struggle to get a win here. At the odds, I’m very happy with the Dortmund lay at 2.46 – I’d expect Frankfurt to make life very difficult for Dortmund and I wouldn’t even be surprised to see a home win.
The Ultra Says:
Three points lay (liability) Dortmund to beat Eintracht Frankfurt at 2.46 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EinDor
VALENCIA V BARCELONA
8pm We move over to La Liga to finish Saturday as Valencia host Barcelona. The visitors made the headlines in the Champions League during the week, but unfortunately it was for the wrong reasons. For the second season running, Barcelona are out of the Champions League at the Group stage. For any other major club that would be massively disappointing, but for Barcelona it feels like an even bigger setback because of their financial issues. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see how that plays out – they added some major signings during the summer and sold what they could from the club – I’m sure they weren’t planning on crashing out of the Champions League early even with the difficult Group. It’s been a poor few weeks for Barcelona because they lost El Clasico recently too, but you have to say that in general, especially in La Liga, they have been playing much better football compared to last season. Their xG figures in La Liga this season have been incredible, and to be fair to them they were unlucky against Inter Milan – it was just one of those things. They were also unlucky to lose away to Bayern Munich as well – maybe the football luck gods don’t like what Barcelona board did financially over the last few years!
Barcelona will be expected to win this game, but it does look like a tricky fixture. Valencia were a little unlucky to lose last week to Mallorca, but prior to that they had put together a run of five games unbeaten. They created some very eye catching xG figures too – even when losing 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano before that run they created an xG of 2.23 and we can see figures like 2.11, 3.0 and 3.16 from their recent games. As I mentioned above, Barcelona have been creating some exceptional xG figures this season – their average xG in La Liga is 2.8 which is fantastic. I do feel the market is basically correct here though, I would rate Barcelona around a 1.6 shot to win here, and it’s hard to make the case that they should be shorter. I’m happy to stay out of the match odds market, and the bet I like is Over 2.5 goals at similar odds as Barcelona. That’s trading 1.64, and we have two very attacking sides here so we should see plenty of action. Valencia won’t just sit back and accept a 1-0 loss here, especially if we see an early goal so I can see a very end-to-end game.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.64 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/ValBar
