Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Prediction and Odds | La Liga August 13
Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Betting Preview
Rayo Vallecano and Barcelona will open up their respected La Liga seasons on Saturday as Barcelona finished second in last year’s standings with Rayo Vallecano finishing 12th. WagerTalk soccer handicapper Kevin Dolan shares his thoughts on Saturday’s Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona battle.
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| Saturday, August 13 | La Liga Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| Rayo Vallecano: | +1300 |
| Barcelona: | -500 |
| Draw: | +610 |
| Total: | 2.75 Goals (Odds Above Courtesy of DraftKings) |
| Game Time: | 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT |
Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Analysis
The Spanish LaLiga season kicks off on Friday and one of the favorites for the competition, Barcelona, face a potentially tricky tie away to Rayo Vallecano in their opening game on Saturday.
Barcelona have upgraded massively in the off-season, bringing in a host of new talent including Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde among many others, so Xavi’s men will no doubt be keen to get off to a hot start in this one.
Rayo Vallecano meanwhile enjoyed a red-hot start to their own LaLiga campaign last year, including doing the double over Barcelona, but fell off a cliff from January 1st on, ranking as the league’s worst team overall with just two wins over their final twenty games of the season.
As stated, Rayo Vallecano have won each of the previous two head-to-heads against Barcelona, but that win in Camp Nou last season represented Rayo Vallecano’s only road win in Barcelona since the year 2000.
Rayo Vallecano Hoping They Can Scale The Cliff Face Once Again
There will no doubt be concerns with just how poor Rayo Vallecano looked to finish off last year.
However, if there was one bright spark to be gleaned from that collapse it was that one of those final two wins of the season came against this same Barcelona side over in the Nou Camp in what was an absolutely massive upset back in April.
Barcelona were going off at -303 to win that game, still a lot less than the -600 currently on offer ahead of Saturday’s match, but nonetheless, Rayo Vallecano showed they can get it done on the road and will look for a repeat of that historic victory here on Saturday.
Strong Run-In To The Season For Barcelona
Barcelona’s new charges have looked in impressive form over the pre-season so far, going undefeated across their seven games in all with new signings Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both getting on the scoresheet over recent games as well.
Xavi will be hoping that recent impressive run for Barcelona can overcome a home record which saw them lose four of their last six games of the season across all competitions however.
Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Prediction
You can still pick up Barcelona -1.75 at -138 for this game and that’s the way we’re looking to play this one on Saturday.
It’s hard to emphasize just the sheer gulf between where these two teams are at currently, with Vallecano coming in at much less than 10% of the total market value of Barcelona (compare a team like Brighton in the EPL who come in at around 35% of Liverpool’s total value) and the gulf is absolutely massive between the have’s and have not’s in Spanish LaLiga.
Rayo Vallecano hugely overachieved in the early part of last season and while they weren’t quite as bad as their post-January 1st record suggests (14th on xPTS overall), they nonetheless struggled immensely over the latter portion of the season.
Barcelona will likely be chomping at the bit here to get some revenge on the team that did the double on them last year and Camp Nou will no doubt be in full voice for Saturday’s standalone night game in Spain.
We’re taking Barcelona -1.75 in this one to win and cover at home against Rayo Vallecano in Spanish LaLiga.
Prediction: Barcelona -1.75 Asian Handicap
Stoppage Time | European Soccer Betting Preview
Football season is right around the corner for those in the US, but futbol season has already kicked off in Europe. Join Carmine Bianco, Kevin Dolan, Pavlos Laguretos and Jazz Ray for Stoppage Time as we preview this weekend’s featured matches in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.
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Meet the Author
‘The sharpest sports mind in Ireland’ is how one prominent newspaper dubbed Kevin Dolan after he became the first foreigner ever to win the World Series of Handicapping tournament back in 2015. “The Irishman” made his start wagering on GAA, football, soccer and boxing, all to immense success. Since becoming a professional bettor, he has since lit up the sports betting scene in the U.S. and abroad, winning two handicapping awards and writing a best-selling book on sports handicapping named ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Betting’.
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