La Liga Matchday 32 Odds & Picks: Barça Face Trap Game

• Real Madrid and Barcelona remain deadlocked in the title race with seven matches remaining in the 2019-20 La Liga season
• Last week’s results now have the trio of Mallorca, Leganes and Espanyol mired six or more points from safety in the relegation zone
• Get all the odds and best matchups for Matchday 32 in Spain below

The matches continue to roll in Spain’s La Liga, as Matchday 31 came to a close on Thursday and Matchday 32 picks up after a single sleep on Friday.

Real Madrid are -150 favorites in the latest La Liga title odds, with Barcelona — facing a tricky test at Vigo this week — coming in at somewhat better than even money at +120. At the other end of the table, Eibar’s key 1-0 win over Valencia on Thursday has taken them six points clear of the three teams listed above in the race for survival.

Matchday 32 kicks off with Sevilla hosting Valladolid on Friday at 4:00 pm EST; the former trail Atletico Madrid in third by just two points, while the latter is all but guaranteed safety this season.

La Liga Matchday 32 Odds

All odds taken June 26 

Pick 1: Celta Vigo vs. Barcelona

All eyes will be on Vigo come Saturday, as surging Celta (7-12-12) host co-leaders Barcelona (21-5-5) in a game with serious implications at both ends of the league table.

Celta have not conceded a goal in their last three matches, racking up seven of nine possible points against Valladolid (0-0), Alaves (6-0) and Sociedad (1-0) — hardly murderer’s row overall, but an impressive run of defensive form nonetheless.

Barça have struggled for goals in their last two matches, drawing at Sevilla (0-0) and managing just two shots on target in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Bilbao.

Celta may keep it close, and will almost certainly try to lock things down at home in the hopes of a critical point in the relegation race.

PICK: U 2.5, 3 (-119)

Pick 2: Atletico Madrid vs. Alaves

A stellar 3-1-0 record since the COVID restart has propelled Diego Simeone’s Atletico (14-13-4) back into their familiar third-place spot in the standings ahead of Saturday’s visit from Alaves (9-8-14).

To their credit, Atleti have been more creative in their past few matches — but finishing issues remain and their stereotypical 1-0 wins have been a hallmark of late.

1 – Diego Simeone has won his 194th game for @atletienglish in @LaLigaEN (GP319 W194 75D L50), equaling Luis Aragones record of most wins for the club (GP407 W194 D96 L117). Icons. pic.twitter.com/z7TZcBfkUT

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) June 23, 2020

Alaves have been sunk by red cards in two of their first four games since the restart but were generally quite poor against both Celta (0-6) and Osasuna (0-1) in their last two outings.

Saturday’s visitors are the second-worst road team (2-3-10) in La Liga, and have conceded more away goals (34) than anybody else; this could be the opening Atleti need to start finishing the aforementioned influx of chances.

PICK: O 2, 2.5 (-108)

Pick 3: Getafe vs. Real Sociedad

Though not the same profile as the neck-and-neck title race, La Liga’s race for Europe is on fire as well with just three points separating fifth-place Getafe (13-10-8) from eighth-place Valencia — with Getafe’s Monday visitors Real Sociedad (14-5-12) right in the mix.

Both sides have been underwhelming in June, with zero combined wins in eight matches (0-4-4) since the restart — Sociedad particularly poor with an 0-1-3 record that includes dropped points at home against Osasuna (1-1) and Vigo (0-1).

Getafe have won five of the last six league meetings dating back to 2016, but it’s genuinely difficult to back either side in this key clash due to their poor form.

Expect both teams to keep their cards close to their chest in the hopes of having a chance to win late in the game.

PICK: Draw (+193)