Valencia vs Atletico Madrid
With Real Madrid weakened, it’s time for Atletico Madrid to stake their claim as the best team in the Spanish capital.
The Rojiblancos have long lurked behind their bitter rivals and neighbours who, for nine frustrating years, boasted one of the top players in the world. However, those days are over and Diego Simeone’s side is well poised to emerge from Real’s shadow and establish themselves as the better team.
Atletico might have seemed to achieve that last year when they finished second in La Liga, only behind Barcelona, but they still ended up close with Los Blancos as only three points separated them. Now, they have a legitimate chance of widening that gap.
The first assignment for Simeone and his charges in their quest for Madrid and league domination is Valencia, and a win at the Mestalla will certainly be a huge confidence booster.
Talking Points
Atletico Madrid are here to win, and they made that clear in the recent UEFA Super Cup that saw them battle back from a 2-1 lead to beat no other than reigning Champions League titlists, Real Madrid.
While they sure have more motivation to win that game, their performance provides enough reason to believe they can give Barcelona a good run for their money and, of course, make life hard for a top-four team like Valencia.
Diego Costa was back to his old, usual form, which should be scary for any defender. Costa needed only 50 seconds to score in the Super Cup, and while he ended up scoring two goals, he could have scored more.
He was a consistent threat with his tireless and relentless running, giving the Real Madrid defence all sorts of problems. In fact, in his first goal, he charged past the likes of world-class defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane!
Valencia’s Gabriel Paulista will probably be given the tough task of marking Costa in their game this week, but he undoubtedly needs to pray that the Spain international won’t be in a scoring mood when they play. After all, Costa is nearly impossible when he plays the way he does against Los Blancos.
However, Costa is not the only problem that Valencia need to address at Mestalla. There’s also French striker and World Cup standout performer Antoine Griezmann who scored 19 league goals for the club last campaign.
Griezmann failed to score in the Super Cup and that should only increase his desire to find the back of the net again.
Besides Costa and Griezmann, it will be interesting to see how Thomas Lemar will fit in with his new team. The former AS Monaco midfielder played in the right and left wing against Real, so it’s worth pondering about how Simeone will deploy him this time around.
For Valencia, they have weapons of their own that can threaten Atletico. They were the headlines of recent La Liga 2018 news, thanks to their deals for Michy Batshuayi and Kevin Gameiro, formerly of Atletico.
Batshuayi was sent to Valencia on loan from Chelsea while Gameiro was sold for a reported €16 million. There are integration concerns for boss Marcelino considering that the transfers of the two players were only completed last week, but there’s no doubt they are nice additions to a Valencia team that already has Rodrigo, Santi Mina and Simone Zaza.
History
While Valencia enjoyed a successful campaign last year, they still failed to win against Atletico. They did play a goalless draw in their meeting with Simeone’s men at the Mestalla, but the Madrid side bounced back and won the return fixture 1-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
In their last 10 meetings (nine in La Liga and one in Copa del Rey), Atletico have won seven times while Valencia have only one victory. The other two ended up in a low-scoring draw.
Interestingly though, Griezmann scored four of Atletico’s last nine goals against Valencia. The next top-scorer for the Rojiblancos against the east coast squad is—you guessed it—Gameiro!
Betting Tip
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Valencia vs Atletico Madrid | Atletico Madrid Asian Handicap -0.50 @ 2.53 |
| August 21, 02:00 (GMT+8) |
Both are top-four teams last year, so it’s no wonder why there are high expectations on this game. The SBOBET football offers on La Liga 2018 betting have the two almost even, with Atletico given the slight advantage.
As mentioned though, I still have concerns over Valencia’s lack of training time and real-game experience with their new recruits, so I doubt Batshuayi and Gameiro can immediately make an impact.
With that said, I like the chances of Atletico. Their recent meetings have always been close (with only one goal scored in their last two), but I believe Simeone’s deeper squad gives him the edge to carve out a win.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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