La Liga Betting: Real, Atletico Prepare for Madrid Derby
Atlético Madrid (+150) vs Real Madrid (+175), Draw (+225)
Real Madrid (8-3-0, 27 points) will travel (a very short distance) to take on Atletico Madrid (6-3-2, 21 points) this Saturday (Nov. 20) for the first Madrid Derby of the season.
Atletico will be needing to make up ground after a shock defeat last week against Real Sociedad. Their performance of late has bumped them to fourth place, just below Villarreal. That’s partly due to their poor away record. Of their last six away games in La Liga, they have only managed to win two.
So it must come as some relief that they’re taking on Real Madrid at Estadio Vicente Calderon. It will be their first meeting since last year’s Champions League final, in which Real Madrid clinched a victory on penalty kicks.
Despite being in fourth, things aren’t looking too bad for Atleti. Defensively, they are still rock solid, having only conceded eight goals in 11 league matches this season. And they have ample firepower up front as well; Antoine Griezmann leads the team with six goals, behind only Lionel Messi (8) and Luis Suarez (8) in the La Liga scoring race. Frenchman Kevin Gameiro (5) and Belgian Yannick Carrasco (5) have proven to be reliable goalscorers for Atletico, as well.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid have been relying on their big two to bring in the goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (5) and Gareth Bale (5). They sit second in goals-for (31) to Barcelona (32), but are two points up on their Catalonian rivals for first-place in the table and are the only remaining undefeated team.
This weekend, the spotlight will be on Ronaldo, who just signed a five-year extension with Real Madrid. This will be his first significant game since signing the contract that will bind him to Real Madrid until he is 36 years of age. It’s unusual for a top club to offer more than a year-long contract to a player over 30, but Ronaldo is not a usual player.
The Madrid Derby, as always, will be packed with excitement, tension, and the odd chance of violence. Real have the stronger roster, overall, but Atletico will make up for that with their staunch defense and home-field advantage. I see two very evenly matched teams playing to draw in the end.
Pick: Draw (+225)
Photo credit: “Cristiano 2” by Jan Solo (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/].
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
