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Busy weekend in the sports betting game, and we’ll get it started with some European soccer action.  We’ll be back later with our analysis and selections on UFC 113, NASCAR from Darlington and more.  Action in the European professional leagues is winding down, but we’ve got a soccer betting play in the Spanish La Liga game between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao.  Real Madrid is 1 point behind Barcelona, but doesn’t control their own destiny.  If Barcelona wins on Saturday, they take the championship.  Their game with Sevilla is happening at the same time as this one, so Real Madrid will have plenty to play for.  The Real Madrid/Athletic Bilbao game goes at 3 PM Eastern/12 noon Pacific.  This game will be televised on ESPN2 in the US.

SPANISH LA LIGA–REAL MADRID VS. ATHLETIC BILBAO:

Like many mid level European soccer teams, Athletic Bilbao plays reasonably well at home and struggles on the road.  Bilbao has a 10 win 4 draw and 4 loss record at home, but have only 4 wins and 5 draws against 9 losses away.  They’ve scored 15 goals and allowed 24 away from home, and that doesn’t bode well against a potent Real Madrid squad.  Real Madrid has won 17 and lost 1 at home, scoring 55 goals and allowing 17.  In their last game Madrid ripped a decent Mallorca team 4-1, thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s first hat trick since joining the La Liga side.

Real Madrid has been scoring goals at home, but they’ve also been giving up goals.  Madrid has scored 2 or more in 5 of their last 6 home games, but they’ve allowed their opponents to score in 5 of 6 as well.  Bilbao is on a six game road winless streak and when they played a comparable team in Barcelona a few weeks ago they were thumped 4-1.  No interest at all in playing Real Madrid -1150 to win, or laying 2 goals -165.  Based on their recent offense and Bilbao’s away struggles we’ll look to play this game Over the total.

PLAY REAL MADRID/ATHLETIC BILBAO OVER 3′ -120