Real Madrid vs Real Betis Betting Tips

Worries that Rafa Benitez was too cautious a coach to manage Real Madrid whose fans demand attacking football were hardly eased by a goalless draw at Sporting Gijon on the opening day. It was Real’s first 0-0 draw in La Liga for almost 3 years since they made the trip to Osasuna in the 2012/13 season and despite peppering the Gijon goal, Real couldn’t break the deadlock.

Much like Barcelona, when Real Madrid are missing one of their attacking trio they don’t possess quite the same threat. Karim Benzema has been a prolific goalscorer during his 6 seasons at the Bernabeu but is likely to still be missing here with a hamstring injury.

It will be easier for them back on home soil to play their football rather than at a tight away ground with a passionate crowd which is what they faced last weekend. They have looked much tighter at the back since the arrival of the former Valencia boss and conceded just 2 goals from open play in 8 pre-season games against high quality opposition prior to another clean sheet on the opening day.

Benzema is likely to be their only major absentee so they look good value at 8/11 to win this game to nil. Betis struggled to create much in their opening game but grabbed a late equaliser to draw 1-1 with Villarreal in their first game back at this level. They are desperate for exciting new signing Rafael Van der Vaart to return from injury and provide a creative spark but the trip to his old home this Saturday is likely to come too soon.

They will probably take some inspiration from the performance fellow newboys Sporting put in against Real last weekend and may think they can also frustrate them for long periods so they are likely to opt a very cautious approach as most sides do at the Bernabeu. Betis will struggle to avoid defeat but they are capable of avoiding a morale denting thrashing which is important at this stage in this season especially given the disaster that was their last La Liga campaign.

With Real not quite firing in attacking sense, it is unlikely to be a goalfest, so a 2-0 home win looks like the best bet in the correct score market and you can back that at 11/2.