WEDNESDAY LA LIGA: The Ultra previews BARCELONA v OSASUNA and ATLETICO MADRID v RAYO VALLECANO both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
BARCELONA V OSASUNA
6pm We have some cracking midweek action from La Liga on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE this week as we catch up on the fixtures missed when the top sides were in Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup. We kick off the action on Wednesday with Barcelona hosting Osasuna. Both sides were in action at the weekend with Barcelona losing further ground on Girona and Real Madrid at the top of the table while Osasuna sit safely in mid-table. Osasuna will be disappointed with the season so far, and to be honest Barcelona will be gutted with their season. Osasuna have been your classic mid-table La Liga side for a number of seasons, but they took a jump into seventh place last season and got to experience European football – it didn’t go well for them however as they failed to get to the Group stage; they got knocked out by Club Brugge in the playoff round. Barcelona have had the best attacking xG figure in La Liga for most of the season, but they have dropped a lot of points. Sloppy is probably the word you could use for them, and that’s why they’ve been off the pace in the title race. I know Girona are having a superb season, but realistically everyone is looking at the gap between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
That gap got even bigger on Saturday when Barcelona lost 5-3 at home to Villarreal. It’s also worth noting that based on under-lining numbers, Villarreal have been one of the worst sides in La Liga this season too! Villarreal took a 2-0 lead and then Barcelona did all the hard work to get to a 3-2 lead before conceding three goals after the 84th minute. Talk about falling apart, they conceded in the 99th and 102nd minute! If we’re brutally honest, their title challenge was over already, but they are now ten points behind Girona and eight behind Real Madrid. They’ll be expected to win here however, and they still come into the game as the odds on favourites. They are trading as short as 1.35 at the time of writing with Osasuna 11.0 and the draw is 5.8. That 1.35 feels exceptionally short now after the weekend even with Osasuna having a reasonably poor season. There’s no major red flags in the Osasuna under-lining numbers; pretty much mid-table standard. With Barcelona being so sloppy at the back, I expect goals here. Both Teams To Score looks a cracking bet at 1.98 – I expected it to be trading much shorter, and it’s worth a confident bet.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Both Teams To Score at 1.98 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BrcOsa
ATLETICO MADRID V RAYO VALLECANO
8pm We finish the action on Wednesday night with Atletico Madrid hosting Rayo Vallecano. This is a very similar game to the one above; indeed Atletico Madrid sat beside Barcelona in the table and Rayo Vallecano sat beside Osasuna at the weekend. We have a similar market, but Atletico aren’t trading as short as Barcelona. The home win is 1.51 here with Rayo Vallecano 7.4 and the draw is 4.9 at the time of writing. After Barcelona lost on Saturday and Atletico won on Sunday they now have the same amount of points – the real battle for Atletico recently has been with Athletic Bilbao though. Atletico were sitting outside the top four, but with Athletic Bilbao losing to Valencia and then only drawing with Cadiz, Atletico have moved ahead. I suppose it was always going to happen at some stage that Atletico take over but to lose points against those two sides must be very disappointing for Athletic Bilbao! It would have expected that Atletico would eventually overtake them but Bilbao were living the dream I suppose. This is Atletico’s game in hand over Bilbao from the weekend of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia so they can move further clear with a win here.
Rayo Vallecano still safely in mid-table, and they will be happy with their journey in La Liga so far. Let’s not forget they finished sixth in the Segunda in 2020/21 and came up through the playoffs. They’ve been a mid-table La Liga side since then. They have played decent football this season too; their average xG created is 1.39 which is the seventh best attacking figure in La Liga – not bad for their level. They are conceding more chances than that though, and obviously that is the worry. The major problem for Rayo Vallecano this season has been their failure to convert their chances. Their actual goals scored average is only 0.86; only Cadiz who sit in the relegation zone have scored fewer goals. Obviously Rayo Vallecano have tried to keep games as tight as possible, but what they really need is a natural striker to convert the chances they are creating. Atletico also like to keep their games reasonably tight, and I feel Under 2.5 goals is worth backing at 2.18. I was surprised to see Overs the clear favourite in this market; Atletico have managed to keep three clean sheets from their last four La Liga games, and with Rayo Vallecano’s goal scoring problems I’d have Unders the favourite here.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Under 2.5 goals at 2.18 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/AtlRyo
