La Liga Betting – Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid

Athletic Bilbao (+500) vs. Real Madrid (-225) (Draw +375)

After drawing against Villarreal (1-1) at home last weekend, La Liga leaders Real Madrid will visit Athletic Bilbao in San Mames tomorrow (March 7), likely needing the full three points to stay ahead of Barcelona in the table. Kick-off will be at 12:00 p.m. Eastern.

In the moneyline, Real Madrid are the heavy favorite despite playing a decent squad on the road; they are listed at -225, while the home team is +500 and the draw +375.

In the handicap, Madrid are a -1 favorite. That may be a tempting bet, since Real have won by two or more goals away from home a staggering eight times this year. However, Athletic have only lost by two or more twice on the season.

Looking at the all-time head-to-head series, the teams have met 43 times in La Liga and Real Madrid hold the edge, 27-6-10.  Athletic haven’t topped Real Madrid since January 2010.

As mentioned, Real Madrid are on the top of La Liga. They’re currently sitting on 61 points (20-1-4) and have a staggering +52 goal difference. The draw with Villarreal last time out allowed Barcelona to creep within two points, however. Another draw could see Barca draw level by week’s end.

Athletic, meanwhile, are right in the middle of the pack, sitting tenth with 30 points (8-6-1) and an uninspiring -9 goal difference.

While the payout isn’t great, I’d take Real Madrid’s money line. The team will know it can’t afford anything but a win in order to stay on top of the league.

(Photo credit: Jan S0L0 [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)