Barcelona won the 2018/19 La Liga title by eleven points and it’s the Catalan side who are once again trading as favourites to retain their crown this time around. Bookmaker bet365 offer 8/13 that Barca are lifting the trophy come the end of the campaign, with Ernesto Valverde hoping to steer his team towards more domestic success.
Real Madrid struggled without Cristiano Ronaldo last season although the acquisition of Eden Hazard will surely improve Los Merengues, especially if Zinedine Zidane can get the best of the Belgian who was so excellent for Chelsea.
Bet365 go 13/8 that they are able to wrest the Spanish bragging rights from Barcelona, with the latter now boasting Antoine Griezmann and the only other team who can realistically challenge is the Frenchman’s former club, with Atletico available at 12/1.
In this article, we look ahead to each of the above trio’s opening matches in Spain, with Barcelona kicking us off on Friday night.
This is an intriguing opening fixture to mark the start of the 2019/20 season, with Athletic Bilbao having boasted a strong record at San Mames last term. Indeed, they only lost twice in front of their own fans and coach Gaizka Garitano will want to build on the eighth-placed finish.
Barcelona are trading as favourites for the clash and it’s easy to understand why you can find general quotes of 4/6 about the Catalan side, although they did concede an average of one goal per away clash last term and perhaps they might find it hard to contain their opponents here.
This will be the first time that supporters will get to see Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong lining up for Barca, with an attack-minded approach always expected and we’re going to back both teams to score as a result.
Lionel Messi remains at the peak of his powers and there’s the tantalising prospect of the Argentine playing alongside Luis Suarez and Griezmann.
BETTING TIP
Both Teams to Score @ 7/10
With Cristiano Ronaldo having departed twelve months ago and Gareth Bale not turning out to be the natural replacement for the Portuguese, it would appear that the Real Madrid supporters are now ready to crown a new superstar hero.
Eden Hazard has been one of the outstanding players in the English Premier League for several seasons, helping Chelsea land various pieces of silverware and his final act was to win the Europa League with the Blues last May before deciding to make the switch to the Bernabeu.
Hazard will now hope to light up the stage in Spain and his team’s campaign starts with a trip to Celta Vigo, with the latter having only just remained in the Primera Liga last term.
The Celts finished in 17th place and just four points above the drop zone, while they lost six of their home matches and only managed to score six more goals at home than they conceded.
Under Zinedine Zidane, we should expect Real to pack a punch and we’re going to back them to win the game and both teams to score.
The Madrid outfit were not especially adept at keeping clean sheets on the road last season and ended up conceding 31 goals in 19 away matches which was as many goals as they managed to score.
BETTING TIP
Real Madrid to win + BTTS @ 7/4
Atletico Madrid must start a new life next season, with Antoine Griezmann finally flying the nest after many successful seasons in the Spanish capital. A prospective move to Barcelona had been on the cards for some time, with Atleti now having to plan for life without their superstar.
Diego Simeone remains in charge of a squad who can still expect to challenge hard this season and the Argentine did steer his team to a second-placed finish last term which saw them eight points better off than Real in the final standings.
They also boasted the tightest defence in La Liga and conceded just ten goals in nineteen matches at the Wanda Metropolitano, with Getafe arriving on Sunday to try and break down the wall.
In fairness, the visitors also did well last year when finishing in sixth place, with a miserly twenty-two goals conceded on the road and it looks a pertinent bet to back Under 2.5 Goals here at the odds.
BETTING TIP
Under 2.5 Goals @ 8/11