SUNDAY IN EUROPE: The Ultra previews Sunday’s games between UNION BERLIN v MAINZ, BARCELONA v CADIZ and REAL BETIS v ATLETICO MADRID all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
UNION BERLIN V MAINZ
2.30pm We have a fascinating Sunday around Europe on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are in action in La Liga, but we start the day in the Bundesliga as Union Berlin host Mainz. It’s great to have the Bundesliga back this weekend, and it will be interesting to see how Union Berlin follow up a very successful season. They managed to finish in the top four for Champions League football, and although they were never quite in the title race; they were hanging around the top of the table for a large part of the season. Freiburg have made a lot of progress lately, while Bayer Leverkusen will be hoping to bounce back, but you have to say Union Berlin do have a good chance of staying in the top four. They have been a top class side for a while now; they were only a point off the top four in 2021/22 too. They start their season at home against Mainz, in a game that they should win really. The home win is trading 2.06 at the time of writing with Mainz 4.1 and the draw is 3.5.
Union Berlin have been exceptional at home for a while. They actually managed to go the whole 2022/23 season unbeaten at home, which is obviously impressive. There’s nothing too negative about Mainz away from home, so let’s not get carried away on Union Berlin here. Despite being unbeaten at home last season, their general plan is to keep games as tight as possible. They had an expected goals of 2.3 per game last season, which is very low in a league like the Bundesliga where we generally see lots of open games. The cagey tactics worked for Union Berlin last season, so I can’t see them changing this season! Mainz played a lot more open game last season, but Under 2.5 goals looks a shade of value to start the day at 1.76 here. I can’t see Union being too open, and Mainz away from home are likely to feel their way into the game too. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see 0-0 at half-time here so Unders could be a very nice trade, but from an outright point of view I like it at 1.76 too.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Under 2.5 goals at 1.76 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/UniMai
BARCELONA V CADIZ
6.30pm We move over to La Liga next as Barcelona host Cadiz. Barcelona opened the season last weekend with a disappointing 0-0 draw against Getafe – although they’ll be unhappy with that, they did open last season with a 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano and went on to win the title so they’ll be hoping that’s a good omen! It was a very bad tempered game last weekend with Barcelona getting Raphinha sent off at the end of the first half, and they had their manager Xavi sent off too. It will be very interesting to see how Barcelona perform here in their first “home” game without Camp Nou as it undergoes work this season to upgrade the stadium. I don’t think the red card was an excuse for the draw last weekend because Getafe had a man sent off in the 57th minute, so Barcelona had more than half an hour to find a winner with the same amount of men. Barcelona are trading as short as 1.24 at the time of writing, which is the shortest price in La Liga this weekend. If you fancy a shock, Caidz are 16.5 while the draw is 7.2.
It’s very hard to see past a comfortable Barcelona win here, and I feel it’s a case of how many goals can Barcelona score rather than will they win. With Barcelona so short in the match odds market, we’ll have to look around the side markets for some value, but I wouldn’t put anyone off including Barcelona in their weekend Acca! There aren’t many positives for Cadiz here – they only managed 15 points away from home last season which wasn’t far off the bottom three on the away form table. They were involved in the relegation battle all season as well though in fainess. I feel Barcelona will cover the Handicap here, and the 1.7 is very much worth backing -1.5 goals.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Barcelona -1.5 goals to beat Cadiz at 1.7 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BarCdz
REAL BETIS V ATLETICO MADRID
8.30pm We stay in La Liga to finish Sunday as Real Betis host Atletico Madrid. This should be a cracker, and you could argue that it’s the best fixture in Europe this weekend. This will be a very good test for Atletico at the start of the season, and if they want to be involved in the title race again this season this is the type of game that they have to win. Real Betis would have been disappointed with their season last time to only finish sixth. With Sevilla being so poor and opening a spot in the top four, Betis would have been a very popular pick because they were so strong in fifth in 2021/22. They simply weren’t good enough though, and they definitely need to step forward from last season. Their average xG created was more or less the same as they average conceded. It was around 1.5, which is simply too high if you want to compete for the top four. They did start the season with a nice win away to Villarreal though, and Atletico also had a nice win at home against Granada.
Everything points to a very close game here with Betis having home advantage. The home win is trading 4.0 at the time of writing with Atletico Madrid 2.1 and the draw is 3.5. Atletico have a good record against Betis – they have won the last four La Liga meetings – they’ve actually won 75% of the La Liga meetings between the sides. They’ve four of the last six meetings in La Liga here, with one draw and one loss. There’s a lot in Atletico’s favour here, but it’s hard to argue that they should be odds on and that the 2.1 is good value – I expect a reasonably close game. From the 24 La Liga meetings between the sides, only 33% had Over 2.5 goals. We usually see a cagey game between these two, and Under 2.5 goals looks nice value at 1.72. Atletico might grind out a win, but I can see a very cagey affair.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Under 2.5 goals at 1.72 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BetAtl
