The Spanish La Liga title race reaches the final chapter on Saturday when Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will decide this year’s winner. Atleti heads into a road outing against Real Valladolid needing a win to fend off their fierce rivals.
Bookmaker 10Bet has the odds at 2.05 for Atletico to finish the season with a win in which they record a clean sheet. The odds are at 11 for Valladolid to pull off a major shock and win without conceding a goal.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 21th, 5:00 P.M. (EST)
Atletico holds a two-point lead at the top of the table ahead of the final game meaning that they have to match Real’s result or hope that their city rivals don’t win at home against Villarreal. If Atletico draws and Real wins, the two will finish level on points and Los Blancos would be crowned champions because they have the edge over Atletico in this season’s head-to-head meetings.
Following a poor run of form, Atletico have bounced back with three wins in four games and they can thank Luis Suarez for putting them in the driving seat ahead of the final weekend. The former Barcelona man notched a dramatic 88th-minute winner against Osasuna last week allowing him to reach 20 goals for the season.
The Uruguayan star was brushed aside by Barca for being too old and ineffective, but he’s produced a great bounce-back year and the veteran forward has now directly won a league-high 19 points with his goals for the team this season.
The title chances seem strong for Diego Simeone’s men, but they have to do a professional job at Jose Zorrilla Stadium against a team that will try to escape relegation with a spectacular win.
Having won just once in their past 20 league outings, Valladolid have dropped like a rock in the La Liga standings and need three points to have any chance of survival. They haven’t beaten Atletico since 2009, losing 10 of the last 11 meetings.
Sergio Gonzalez’s team sits in a tricky spot, but they should have all the motivation in the world to perform well with relegation breathing down their necks and the club reportedly offering a 150,000 euro bonus to each player for a positive result.
The team has been fairly stubborn on home turf over the last couple of months losing only two of six games, so there’s no room for complacency for Atletico who are looking to win their first title in seven years.
