Today we will take a look at a match between Girona and Atletico Madrid, which will take place at Estadio Municipal de Montilivi, in the 14th round of LaLiga.
Girona is currently at 8th spot in the league with 3 wins and 2 draws in their last 5 games. The last time they were defeated was on 6th of October against Eibar (2:3), however, they have put up good results ever since. Looking at the mentioned 5 games, Girona has only conceded 2 goals but scored 6. That means they are currently ranked as the best team in recent 5 matches (3-2-0). Their most recent match against Espanyol ended in a high win for Girona, which was their 3rd away win of the season. The opener eas scored only 4 minutes in my Stuani, who scored another goal just 2 minutes later. With that, Girona was up by 2 goals in the 7th minute of the match. Despite Espanyol’s 9 attempts to score a goal, all went wide, so the teams ended the first half 2 goals apart. The second half was in Girona favour, with 12 goal attempts out of which 8 of them were shot towards the goal. On the other side, Espanyol had 9 attempts and 6 shots on goal. The 3rd goal of the match came in 74′, when Espanyol reduced the margin to only 1 goal. At this point, they had a good chance to level the match and get at least a point, but they failed to score an equalizer. Instead, it was Girona who scored their 3rd goal in the 90th minute. Final score: 1:3.
The visiting team, Atletico Madrid are currently 3rd in the league, and despite not losing a match in the last 5, I am not satisfied with their performances. 2 of their worst performances that stand out are a draw against Villareal (1:1) and Leganes (1:1). Both of the matches were played on the road for Madrid, where they aren’t performing well (1-4-1), but I expected to see better performance from them, especially against those teams. Atletico has a though match behind them when they hosted Barcelona. Despite a dominant performance from Barca, who had 69% possession and 5 more goal attempts, the match ended in a draw (1:1). In fact, Madrid almost won the match but suffered a goal in the 90th minute. Neither of the teams in this match really performed well enough to deserve any praise and to be fair, a draw is a fair result. Final score: 1:1
Atletico Madrid is far from what we are used to watching. Yes, they managed to draw against Barcelona, but quite frankly, even Barcelona is not performing on the level they did last season. Out of the last 5 away games, Madrid only won 1, whereas they lost 2:0 against Celta Vigo and drew against Villareal, Leganes and Real Madrid. As much as I’m disappointed with Atletico Madrid, I am satisfied with how Girona is playing. With the form they are in now, I would not be surprised if they get to the top 3 teams by the end of the 15th round when they will play against Athletico Bilbao. There is no hiding the fact, Girona is not among the best teams when they play at home, but on the other side, Atletico Madrid is not performing well on the road either. In their last 5 away games they scored only 4 goals and conceded just as many. This match could easily end in a draw without any goals being scored, that’s why I will take a +0.5 bet on Girona.
Prediction: Girona +0.50 Asian Handicap
Odds: 2.10 Matchbook
