BETDAQ’s Greg Walker is back with an in-depth preview of Sunday’s La Liga clash between Valencia v Real Madrid.
Greg is now 18.46 points in front with 13 WINNING BETS FROM 21 !!
Greg is BETDAQ’s spokesperson and has plenty to say on the subject of football. Each week he brings his recommended BETDAQ bets across a range of matches but with focus on his area of expertise – European and International football.
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He now previews Valencia v Real Madrid….
La Liga Match Preview
Valencia v Real Madrid
Live on Sky Sports Sunday 20:00
La Liga Week 20….
Valencia host Real Madrid at the Mestalla next Sunday night in what is one of the games of the weekend for vastly contrasting reasons. These teams met only last Tuesday night in the Copa del Rey and in front of their own fans Real inflicted a two nil defeat to their southern visitors. This result did not tell the whole story as whilst the home side should have closed this two legged affair out in the closing stages when Valencia were chasing the game it was a trigger happy linesman which denied Valencia striker Roberto Soldado a couple of goals on the night.
Under pressure….
When ex-Barcelona gaffer Pep Guardiola was announced as the new coach of Bayern Munich this week I would wager that his old adversary Jose Mourhino broke into a big smile. How times have changed for ‘the special one’ since he first took the reigns at Spain’s capital club just over two and a half years ago. In his first season he won the Copa del Rey and then led ‘Los Blancos’ to an incredible nine point victory over FC Barcelona in the La Liga 2011-12 season. These were the good times for Jose and his new love interest but like every romantic wedding when the honeymoon is over the challenge of maintaining everlasting love begins and the way things are going for Jose he may not even get a Valentine’s day card next month. It seems Mourhino is falling out with everyone in Madrid which he has the character to handle however it is his falling out with Madrid’s and possibly Spain’s most loved player, goalkeeper Iker Casillas, that could possibly see him forced to exit before his contract is up in 2016. Their is no questioning Mourinho’s ability and intelligence, four league titles in four different countries, two Champion’s league,one European cup,he speaks six different languages including Catalan and is extremely quick witted but his recent public touting to the premiership is signalling his imminent departure and for what it’s worth, in this writers opinion, Liverpool are the club most likely to be his next port of call however wherever he goes success is sure to follow.
Rotation or just weird….!
As we edge past half way in the season it is clear that Jose Mourhino has visibly conceded the title to Barcelona and his main target is now the Champion’s League. This was never more evident than last week in the away match to lowly Ossasuna. Star striker Ronaldo was serving a one game ban however Mourhino opted to bench Benzema and Ozil and started with players he has shown not to favour, Kaka, Higuain and even Modric. This choice of team was a surprise and outside of the excellent centre half Sergio Ramos serving a ban trying to second guess the moody Mourhino his first eleven for the Valencia game will be a pointless task. Normally I would assume that Ronaldo will be a certain starter but during the mid-week cup game he was on the receiving of serious verbal not only from Mourhino and his assistant but also his team mates on the pitch apparently for slacking on his defensive duties so even his starting spot is not gauranteed.
Movin on up….
After a slow start to the season Valencia have finally got into their stride and have quality through out. Los Che have won four of their last five and in Roberto Soldado they have a striker that can live with Falcao, Messi and Ronaldo. They will be missing star midfielder Sofiane Felghouli who is away with Algeria in the African cup of Nations but have quality through out to trouble their more illustrious but out of sorts visitors. Ricardo Costa, Ever Banega, Guardado and Jonas were all excellent at the Bernabeau last Tuesday and will come into this game in a confident mood despite that recent defeat. These teams have met already in La Liga and that ended in a fair one all draw in the first game of this season.
Valencia victory….
On Real Madrid’s last three visits to the Mestalla in La Liga they bagged all nine points and each game ended with plenty of goals, 2-3, 3-6 and 2-3 so a boring nil all draw is not on the cards. The Special one will be in for a tougher night than he has encountered in the past couple of seasons on Sunday night but what we have to ask ourselves is does he really care. The Madrid boss pulled a rabbit from a hat last Tuesday night by re-instating a player he said only a few months ago would never play for the club again, Ricardo Carvalho, who had been passing his time recently keeping fit in the reserves waiting for a transfer. It is not often that one can make a statement that a Real Madrid side are their for the taking but based on their recent ups and downs on and off the pitch I do believe that they are just that. Bottom club Ossasuna just failed last week to take advantage and I feel the much more offensive, clinical and higher all round quality team that is Valencia will go very close to inflicting a rare defeat on the current champions and continue their own own march up the table.
Betting on BETDAQ – Greg’s Picks:
BACK 1.5 Points VALENCIA –DRAW-NO-BET @ 3.5
BACK 1 Point OVER 3.5 Goals @ 2.55
PROFIT TO DATE: 18.46 points
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