Football betting analyst Mark O’Haire returns to share a couple of his favourite fancies across the globe with a focus on La Liga and the Bundesliga this weekend.
Mallorca are on the look-out for a new coach after sacking Jagoba Arrasate last weekend following a third successive defeat. The limp effort at Celta Vigo saw the Balearic club drop into the relegation zone, a point from safety, with Los Piratas now aiming to do a deal with former Argentina defender Martín Demichelis to take charge until the end of the season.
Although Mallorca failed to fire at Celta, the islanders have offered plenty of final-third threat this term with hulking Kosovan forward Vedat Muriqi enjoying an exceptional campaign. La Liga’s second-top scorer presents a serious handful for opposition defences and will again be the figurehead for the Palma posse on Saturday.
Mallorca are looking for a more expressive, front-foot head coach. But whomever has the controls for this weekend’s clash with Real Sociedad should be capable of overseeing an entertaining encounter. Few teams across the continent are more fun to follow right now than La Real following Pellegrino Matarazzo’s arrival over the winter break.
Since arriving in San Sebastian, Matarazzo’s men have returned the following results in La Liga: 1-1, 2-1, 2-1, 3-1, 1-1, 3-1, 1-4, 3-3. Yet the market hasn’t caught on to the almost guarantee of goals in Real Sociedad fixtures with the visitors now seeing 84% of their overall league matches featuring both sides scoring, including 10 of 12 on their travels.
It just so happens that the Basque boys now head to a Mallorca side that also boasts a heavy hit-rate in the Both Teams To Score column – Los Piratas have seen both oblige in nine of their 12 contests at their Balearic base. Now with a point to prove, a demand for a more attacking approach, against a sprightly Real Sociedad side, goals obviously appeal.
Both Teams To Score is trading at 1.87 and looks massively underrated considering Mallorca have scored in 11 of 12 on the island, and La Real have notched in 10 of 12 when playing away. Meanwhile, no top-fight sides in Spain have kept fewer clean sheets than these two with the pair combining for just four shutouts across their 50 La Liga outings thus far.
Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League dreams came crashing down in Bergamo on Wednesday night as Atalanta staged a remarkable comeback to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit. Niko Kovac’s team were trailing 3-1 going into second-half stoppage-time before a controversial penalty was converted by Atalanta with the last kick of the contest.
BVB’s coach was critical of his team’s display, saying his side “didn’t play a good game”. Kovac added, “If you concede four goals in the Champions League, it’s difficult. In the moments when we conceded, we simply weren’t fully there and made the mistakes. In the Champions League, these are punished, and naturally we are pretty down about it.”
Dortmund don’t have too much time to analyse their dreadfully disappointing defeat with Die Schwarzgelben returning to Bundesliga action as soon as Saturday evening in a crucial Der Klassiker clash with table-topping Bayern Munich. But how much to BVB have left in the tank, both physically and emotionally, following a draining night in Italy?
Dortmund rushed Emre Can back from injury as they invested full focus on UCL progression this week with the club banking on the money from a potential Round of 16 showdown with sporting director Sebastian Kehl admitting, “We will have to see who is still able to run by then” when asked to look ahead to Saturday’s crunch showdown with Bayern.
In contrast, Bayern have enjoyed two midweeks off and Vincent Kompany’s crew have tabled 19 Bundesliga triumphs in 23, scoring at least twice in 22 of those tussles and even racking up 3+ strikes in 18 of 23 league games. The visitors are the only side to beat BVB in Bundesliga action this term and have posted W5-D2-L0 in their last seven trips to Dortmund.
With that in-mind, I’m keen to support a fresh and firing Bayern Munich here with the visitors eager to move 11 points clear at the top of the table with a victory. Backing Bayern Munich to win and Over 1.5 Goals pays 1.79 and provides profit should the Bavarian giants score twice and succeed.
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