Football betting analyst Mark O’Haire returns to share a couple of his favourite fancies across the globe with a focus on the Bundesliga and La Liga.
Bayer Leverkusen conceded seven goals for the first time in their European history in midweek as Paris Saint-Germain hammered Die Werkself 7-2 at the BayArena on Tuesday night. The French giants scored all four of their first-half shots on-target and put their foot down in the second period to make a serious Champions League statement.
Sloppy and naïve, Leverkusen were plagued by mistakes in their own penalty box. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken endured another night to forget, whilst captain Robert Andrich was dismissed after 33 minutes for a careless elbow. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand was in-shock post-match and sent out a gravelling apology to the club’s supporters.
Hjulmand took over Leverkusen following the Erik ten Hag debacle with the former Danish boss slowly restoring Die Werkself’s reputation. Four wins and three draws followed his appointment, though Bayer remained vulnerable defensively, conceding goals frequently and recording a solitary shutout in that seven-game unbeaten sequence before PSG.
Now the young and revamped squad must pick themselves up off the canvas again for a tricky assignment against Freiburg on Sunday. The visitors have recovered from their own poor start to table a five-game unbeaten Bundesliga streak and the Black Forrest club will look to prey on Leverkusen’s fragility. However, goals appear our best avenue of attack.
Leverkusen’s 10 league and Champions League showdowns this season are avergaing 4.10 goals per-game with seven beating the Over 2.5 Goals barrier and nine paying-out for Both Teams To Score backers – a repeat of the latter pays 1.76 this weekend and has also delivered profitable pay-outs in seven of Freiburg’s nine Bundesliga and European outings.
Real Madrid and Barcelona cross swords in the latest edition of the Clasico on Sunday. This fixture rarely disappoints, and recent history suggests another goal-heavy clash could be in the offing at the Bernabeu.
Last term the Spanish giants met four times with those encounters ending 0-4, 2-5, 2-2 and 3-4 – it means 11 of the last 14 match-ups between the two great rivals have covered the Over 3.5 Goals line, whilst the most recent 17 Clasico contests have averaged an enormous 4.06 goals per-game – backing Over 3.5 Goals holds plenty of appeal at 1.86.
Real Madrid were down to just five available defenders in their scratchy midweek success over Juventus – three of whom were left-backs. There’s hope Dean Huijsen will return from injury here, though Xabi Alonso’s likely back-four will be makeshift and made up of Alvaro Carreras, Huijsen, Eder Militao and Fede Valverde.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have issues of their own to iron out at the back. Hansi Flick looks set to start Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia at centre-back, though the Catalans’ concerns are more structural than personnel with the Blaugrana’s high line being exposed all too often since Inigo Martinez’s departure – opponents are finding great joy cutting through the middle.
Girona created multiple one-on-ones last weekend against Barcelona and the visitors have now faced 24 Big Chances in just nine La Liga matches this season, albeit Real Madrid have conceded 19 of their own. With both sides lacking a solid or stable defensive platform, and boasting a plethora of awesome attacking talents, it’s difficult to oppose goals.
Los Blancos have bagged multiple goals in nine of their 12 tussles this term, with Barcelona following suit across their own La Liga and Champions League encounters (recording just three clean sheets). So with both sides stacked going forward and vulnerable at the back, the recent Clasico trend of chaos and goals looks set to continue on Sunday night.
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