SPAIN: La Liga

Expecting Madrid to dominate this evening, after that loss on Wednesday they absolutely must bounce back with a big performance

Same story every game can't realize opportunities and also allows opponents to create a lot of dangerous situations. Interesting what will be against River Plate.

I think considering the way Madrid are performing, it's quite amazing that they're just 2 pts off the top. Club World Cup will be a lot closer than its been in recent years for sure though

Messi up to 50 goals in 2018 in all competitions. 5th in the Balon D'or race tho lmaoooo

Lionel Messi has 14 goals and 10 assists in La Liga. Both of these stats are the highest in any of the top 5 leagues RIGHT NOW!

Messi scored or assisted on all 5 Barca's goals this evening

Messi is the first player to score 50 goals in the calendar year

Messi now has 49 hattricks for his career

JUST RIDICULOUS.

Villarreal vs Real Madrid Preview

This Thursday night we have a huge match up in La Liga as two desperate teams in Villarreal and Real Madrid look for a win for different reasons!

To start with the home team. Villarreal have had a shocker of a season so far as they currently sit 18th but with a game in hand which is this. For a club like Villarreal this is a DISASTROUS season so far, a team who normally compete for top 4 or at worst Europa League places don't look nowhere near that and they MUST figure it NOW and go on a run before it's too late. For sure Villarreal fans will be hoping that they figure this out and don't end up being in a relegation battle come end of the season and have another situation like in 2012 where they got shockingly relegated!

Looking at Villarreal's biggest problem is definitely their home form. Villarreal have only managed to win 1 of 8 home games in La Liga this season which is absolutely woeful for a club that is considered "big" in Spain. Another weakness is goal scoring as they've only bagged 17 goals in 16 league games and they don't have a player that has more than 4 this season and again for a club their level it is absolutely poor

Looking at Real Madrid. Well they have played exceptional recently to be fair under Solari however with a game in hand and 8 points behind league leaders Barca, this really is a MUST win for them because they simply can't afford an in form Barca to start pulling away otherwise it's another season with no title challenge and for Madrid that is simply unacceptable.

Under Solari, Madrid have played free flowing football winning 11 of 13 (losing 2, both 3-0 to EIbar and CSKA surprisingly) but those defeats aside it really has been a revitalised Madrid. They have scored 34 goals in those 13 games, they are currently on a massive high as they have won Club World Cup for the 3rd straight time and 4th in last 5 and most importantly they're now a healthy in form team!

The man in form right now for Madrid is definitely Gareth Bale who has been in great form scoring 5 in his last 6 apps including a hattrick in the CWC Semi Final so surely Villarreal will be having to look out for him.

Recent H2H

It's been quite close obviously Madrid have had Ronaldo in recent meetings but even then Villarreal have made it competitive against them. In the past two seasons the teams split wins and drew twice and none of the wins were by large margins, it was by 1 goal (1-1 2-3 0-1 2-2) and weirdly enough the away team has come out on top in the 2 wins.

Real Madrid have only lost once away to Villarreal in their last 8 visits (4W 3D)

Betting Stats

Villarreal have covered just 37.5% of goal overs at home (3/8) 5 Lost

Villarreal have covered just 12.5% of their Half Time goal total overs. (1/8) 1 Void 6 Lost

Real Madrid have also just covered 37.5% of goal overs away from home (3/8) 1 Void 4 Lost

Real Madrid have covered 37.5% of their Half Time goal total overs (3/8) 5 Lost.

Villarreal have covered just 25% of their Handicaps at home (2/8) 6 Lost

Real Madrid also just covered 25% of their Handicaps away from home (2/8) Lost 6.

Prediction

My thinking is a low scoring battle here. Both teams are quite underish in the venues given with Villarreal at home and Madrid away. I think given that both teams need a result we'll a safe style of play maybe with Madrid dominanting possesion but expect a solidity at the back by Villarreal here. I think Madrid will win but with the odds of 1.78 for a win I'd rather wait till they raise until 1.9 or higher which could take about 10 mins assuming nobody score and Madrid don't completely dominate early. Under 3 goals is my goals pick and I wouldn't be surprised if Madrid won 0-1/0-2

KICK OFF - Thursday 3rd January 2019 8:30pm UK Time

Damn it's 1-2 already. Well hopefully Madrid wins, could've got them at great odds when they went down early

Cazorla really bagged a brace and it ended 2-2.. neither bet came through unfortunately

Two quick goals from Real Madrid and then...They suddenly stopped playing and most of the time played for themselves not for the team. Bad individual performances from probably all the players. Bad decision on the attack but the most stucked episode was when Luca Vasquez was left 1 on 1 against Villareal goalkeeper and on the left side clearly visible Benzema with wide open space to score an open goal but Luca played his ego and shot straight to the goalkeeper. Instead of 1-3 we made 2-2 and both goals was scored by Santi Cazorla who just recently came back to one football field. Happy for him but sad and frustrating as a Real Madrid fan to see this performance from madridistas.

Oh dear.. Sevilla and Atletico draw then Real Madrid lose. Barcelona must be wiping their hands somewhere, well unless they bottle it against Getafe now

Definitely the title race for Real Madrid is done. They had so much opportunities to cut the lead on the table but they not only didn't took advantage of that but they shown disrespectful performance after the winter break. It's hard to predict now but I can't imagine any positive vibe for their upcoming match in the Champions league against Ajax. I think everyone are brave enough to call off the season for them.

Massive rebuild upcoming in the summer, despite that there is still no excuse for this season due to the players on the team, massive let down for real man and some of these guys need to have a hard look at themselves unless they actually go and win CL again. Copa Del Rey is another trophy available but that alone surely wouldn't satisfy Madrid

Another home loss for Villarreal. This team is seriously damaged

They're 19th in the league what the hell 😲

Atletico so typical. 1-0 win Griezmann the scorer 😄

Antoine Griezmann has contributed to 15 Atletico Madrid's goals out of their total 27 (9G 6A) in the league this season

He's been involved in 55.5% of Atletico's total goals in La Liga this season!

Messi first ever player with 400 career goals in La Liga. Just continues to set records man. What a legendary player

Crucial win for Real Madrid there

Real Madrid have defeated Sevilla for the 12th consecutive time at the Bernabeu. 😲

Sweet win against strong team but the game still with a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. Too much mistakes creating the plays in the attack, Vinicius as always pure talent with incredible speed and skills. And the magic Casemiro shot which basically won the game for us. Rocket!



Need to be patient and step by step try to improve our game and of course wait for the injuries players to comeback. The next game on the road against Espanyol.