La Liga Betting Tips: Will Real Madrid kick-off their campaign with three points?
Odds and preview for this weekend’s fixtures
La Liga returns for another round of action this weekend, with Real Madrid among the sides starting their campaign.
With Barcelona and Atletico Madrid not back until next week, the champions will want to pick up three points in their opener at Real Sociedad and establish an early lead on their rivals.
Before the action kicks-off, we’ve cast our eye over three of the weekend’s standout fixtures…
Celta Vigo v Valencia (20:00 Saturday)
It’s been a tough summer for Valencia in the transfer market, but they currently sit top of La Liga after coming from behind to beat Levante 4-2 in the opening weekend.
Los Che have lost the likes of Dani Parejo, Ferran Torres, Rodrigo and Francis Coquelin as a result of the club’s financial troubles. Javi Gracia hasn’t been able to bring any new faces yet either.
We’ve got Valencia at 2/1, though their recent away record doesn’t make good reading. They’re now 11 league games without a win on the road, which will give plenty of encouragement to Celta Vigo. The hosts are 23/20 to get their first win of the campaign. The draw is going for 21/10.
Both fixtures between these sides last season saw the home side win 1-0. It’s 13/2 that the patten continues here.
Iago Aspas could be the main man for Celta as 3/1 for anytime scorer, while Manu Vallejo is 3/1 to follow up his opening-day brace with another goal for the visitors.
Real Betis v Real Valladolid (17:30 Sunday)
After a disappointing campaign last year, Real Betis will hope that Manuel Pellegrini can lead them to better things.
Having beaten Alaves last time out, Betis are 4/5 to win here and take six points from their opening two games for the first time since 2011/12. However, Vallodolid did the double over Betis last year – we’ve got them at 3/1 to win again, while 11/5 says it finishes level.
After Cristian Tello’s injury-time winner against Alaves, will Betis leave it late to get the win again? It’s 10/3 for Draw/Real Betis in the Half-Time/Full-Time market.
Both sides have netted in only one of their last six clashes – you can get 17/20 on Both Teams to Score – No.
Real Sociedad v Real Madrid (20:00 Sunday)
Our traders fancy Real Madrid to begin their title defence with a win. They’re odds-on at 7/10. Real Sociedad are back at 16/5, while there’s 5/2 about the draw.
While Zinedine Zidane’s side may be clear favourites, there could be plenty of goals if previous clashes between these sides are any indication. All but one of the meetings since 2016/17 have produced at least three goals – Over 2.5 Goals is 4/6, while Real Madrid to win and Both Teams to Score is 9/4.
David Silva is in line to make his Sociedad debut after recovering from COVID-19. After helping Manchester City to a Champions League win over Los Blancos last term, can he mastermind an upset?
As for Madrid, they’ll be hoping Karim Benzema picks up where he left off last season. He’s looking in great shape after netting four in a 6-0 friendly win over Getafe in midweek. It’s also a big season for Eden Hazard – after an underwhelming first year in Spain, can he get back to his best?
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication