Spanish midweek stuff 21-23 March

[suke]

Any help rc, i remember reading real madrid that fatty not playing and beckham is out in the papers. About tonite real madrid game. Any comments. Seems real away not to shout about. thanks

[rcgills]

Bilbao v Espanyol:

Bilbao will be virtually at full strength for this one, with only Unai Expósito missing through suspension. Pablo Orbaiz is also expected to return following his suspension.

Espanyol will be without Raúl Tamudo and Luis García, their two top scorers with 15 league goals between them, both through suspension. Walter Pandiani will come in up front as a result. Corominas or Juanfran are the two most likely candidates to play up front alongside him.

PROBABLE LINEUPS (from ESPN):
ATHLETIC: Lafuente; Iraola, Prieto, Ustaritz, Amorebieta; Etxeberria, Orbaiz, Gurpegui, Yeste; Aduriz and Urzaiz.
ESPANYOL: Gorka Iraizoz, Zabaleta, Lopo, Pochettino, Jarque, David García, Costa, De la Peña or Ito, Juanfran or Coro, Jofre and Pandiani
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I like the look of Bilbao in this one. They're on a decent run, 3-1-1 in their last 5 games, while Espanyol have been terrible away from home in recent months. Their last 4 away games have been 0-5 v Getafe, 0-4 v Real Madrid, 0-4 v Villarreal and 0-2 v Cádiz. Added to that the fact that they're without their top two scorers, and the evens available for Bilbao (-0.5) looks very nice indeed.

Bilbao (-0.5) v Espanyol @ 2.00 5pts

[rcgills]

And the last preview from me (on the basis that I don't like the look of the other two games from a betting point of view):

Zaragoza v Real Madrid:

Zaragoza will be at full strength, with Alvaro Maior and Gabriel Milito returning from suspension.

Iván Helguera and Paco Pavón return to the Real Madrid squad, having been dropped following the 6-1 defeat at Zaragoza in the Cup, where they were held to be the two players most to blame.

Raúl Bravo and Woodgate are out injured, and Guti is suspended.

PROBABLE LINEUPS (from ESPN):
ZARAGOZA: César Sánchez; Ponzio, Alvaro, Gabriel Milito, Cuartero; Zapater, Celades; Oscar González, Ewerthon, Cani; and Diego Milito.
REAL MADRID: Iker Casillas; Míchel Salgado or Cicinho, Sergio Ramos, Mejía, Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Gravesen, Baptista, Robinho; Raúl and Ronaldo.
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It wouldn't surprise me to see Real Madrid get a win from this one. Zaragoza have slipped a bit since the last time these two sides met, and they've lost 3 of their last 4 at home. Madrid were poor on Sunday v Betis, but don't forget this is still a team that has won 7 of its last 10 games. However, it's difficult to know which Madrid side will show up, and if the above prediction from ESPN is right and they do go with Raúl and Ronaldo up front, then they may struggle, as both have looked terrible of late. If the price on Zaragoza was a bit longer, I might have been tempted by them, but all in all, think this is going to have to be another no bet for me.

[rcgills]

For anyone who doesn't get to see the goals from La Liga, most of this weekend's goals are here. Not sure whether this link will be the same every week though.

http://www.plus.es/codigo/deportes/liga/default.asp

Down near the bottom, click on .rm or .wmv after "Ver video". Not all the goals are on there, and the commentary's all in Spanish, but you can't have everything, I suppose

[Rashin]

Great stuff as usual RC, I'm staying as far away as I can from the La Liga, they upset me most of the time

Was thinking on another Zaragoza upset, but well I'll wait till my current bets are resolved first.

[sdsponger]

RC, you still feel pretty good about Osasuna today? I can't see any way they should lose, but you never know. What kinda puts me off is that Real Sociedad is just a point above the drop zone and they played pretty tough against Barca over the weekend. Think they have any fight left for today?

Thanks RC

[rcgills]

Well I'm still as confident on Osasuna as I was earlier this afternoon, sponger. If Sociedad want to play tough, then I'm sure Osasuna are more than capable of matching them, having seen their game against Barcelona, where they spent most of the time kicking all Barcelona players, but particularly Ronaldinho, up in the air, and yet it was Barcelona that ended up down to 9 men .

And Sociedad are struggling quite badly for goals, just 3 scored in their last 6 games, with Kovacevic and Skoubo missing, and Nihat struggling to score of late. Added to that they've got the worst defence in the league (53 conceded), and I think Osasuna, even without Milosevic, should be comfortably capable of scoring against them.

Having said this, I'm not on this with my own money (as I've not been on any of my bets on these Spanish threads since the start of the month), so make of that what you will.

[sdsponger]

As always, thanks for your insight and info RC. And believe me, I'd NEVER blame you if I lost from one of your tips

[Rashin]

I'm afraid of Osasuna cos everyone's just on them, same case as in weekend where everyone's on Espanyol to beat them, losing that bet made me cry

[sdsponger]

I know what you mean Rashin, but sometimes these things actually come through for us and make us happy instead of sad

I'm not going to go large on them, but I am going to throw them in a 3-teamer.

[johnnybgood]

Hi guys I aint on osasuna actually I am on draw, and sds you maybe are not blaming rc but rest of us do so, cause he is responsible for spain tips.

[sdsponger]

Crap, I'm not on Osasuna either...missed it. I hate it when work screws up my betting

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by johnnybgood

Hi guys I aint on osasuna actually I am on draw, and sds you maybe are not blaming rc but rest of us do so, cause he is responsible for spain tips.

Not quite sure what to make of that, Johnny, I certainly hope you're only joking . No-one's under any obligation whatsoever to follow any of my tips. If you want to follow, great, if not, don't, but don't go blaming me if they don't win.

Those who have followed me may be pleased to know that Osasuna are already 1-0 up.

[sdsponger]

I just saw that RC...Now I'm really pissed I got stuck in that damn meeting.

[johnnybgood]

cheers rc,
of course I am joking, just to spice things up