COPA DEL REY: Our football tipster The Ultra previews Thursday’s quarter final matches between REAL SOCIEDAD v REAL BETIS and ATHLETIC BILBAO v REAL MADRID both including a recommended BETDAQ bet.
REAL SOCIEDAD V REAL BETIS
7pm We’re down to the Quarter Final stage of the Copa del Rey and we have two cracking fixtures to enjoy on BETDAQ Betting Exchange on Thursday. Technically we are still on an International break, but such is the fixture list this season they have decided to wedge in Cup fixtures. We have the FA Cup in England at the weekend too. Regardless of that we should have an interesting evening ahead and we kick it off with Real Sociedad hosting Real Betis. Real Sociedad come into the game as favourites as they are trading around 2.08 at the time of writing, but Real Betis are having an excellent season – they are six points ahead of Sociedad in La Liga, although they have played one game more. Real Betis fans can dream of Champions League football this season as they sit in 3rd spot, they are four points ahead of Atletico and five ahead of Barcelona. Obviously it’s going to be very tough for them to hang on, but they have a fantastic chance anyway and their fans can really enjoy the end of the season.
Real Betis arrive into the fixture in fantastic form. They have scored eight goals in two games after a little wobble when they lost to Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo. Everyone thought they would fall away from the top four challenge after those games but they have bounced back very well. Prior to those losses, they actually beat Real Sociedad 4-0 with home advantage and they also beat Barcelona 1-0 away from home. They were a little lucky in those two games but you can’t knock the season that they are having. I feel this fixture comes at a good time for Betis, although given the situation La Liga we can possibly expect some changes to the starting XI. Sociedad have dropped a host of points lately and although they created a respectable xG against Getafe they were unable to find a goal. They have had to play Villarreal and Real Madrid here recently so it’s unwise to judge their current home form, but you wouldn’t call them impressive at home. I’m happy to keep stakes limited because it’s Cup action, but the value call looks the Sociedad lay here at 2.08. It’s tempting to back Real Betis, but it’s also nice to have the draw on our side.
The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Real Sociedad to beat Real Betis at 2.08 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange!
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQSocBts
ATHLETIC BILBAO V REAL MADRID
8.30pm We finish the evening with a real game to look forward to as Athletic Bilbao host Real Madrid. While Real Madrid will come into the game as favourites, don’t be fooled by thinking this will be a straightforward win looking at the La Liga table. Athletic Bilbao have made it to the last two Copa del Rey finals, and they are very much a Cup team. As for La Liga, they are your classic average mid-table side but they have targeted the Cup in recent years. It was a big shame for them that, with Covid19, they had to play the two finals within two weeks of each other and lost both finals to Real Sociedad and Barcelona. We had this fixture recently in La Liga in the round of fixtures just before Christmas. Real Madrid ran out 2-1 winners that day, but it was a very close game that could have gone either way. Athletic Bilbao actually created a marginally higher xG – Real have been on a good run in La Liga and they have definitely grinded out a lot more games this season. They haven’t done anything majorly flashy but they have been more consistent than usual – perhaps anything they do would look consistent compared to Atletico Madrid and Barcelona this season though!
Athletic Bilbao will be treating this as a massive Cup final – to win at home to Real Madrid would be a big achievement for them, but they haven’t been playing fantastic football leading into this game. They managed to beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in their last La Liga fixture but they were exceptionally lucky as they conceded an xG of 2.12. They had to settle for a 0-0 to Alaves before that but both of those games came away from home. Being at home makes a big difference to Athletic Bilbao in my opinion – as I said they played very well against Real Madrid, beat Real Betis and were very unlucky to lose to Sevilla here too. They seem to enjoy playing against Real Madrid because they created an xG of 2.84 away to them at the start of December but they still lost the game! They are due some luck against Real Madrid, and I’m happy with the Real lay here at 2.2 – this one is going to be much closer than those odds suggest and Bilbao will make life very difficult for Real.
The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Real Madrid to beat Athletic Bilbao at 2.2 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange!
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQAthRma
