Spanish Football Tips: Atletico can add to blank account

REMEMBER Terry Gibson? Well, we've signed him and while he won't be kicking a football he'll be looking into his crystal ball and bringing us his best Spanish tips every week.

The ex-Spurs, Coventry and Manchester United striker is probably best remembered for his time as part of the infamous Wimbledon Crazy Gang side of the late 80s and early 90s. Now an expert in all things La Liga he works as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports’ Spanish football coverage and is a contributor to unibet.

Here are Terry's tips for two key Sunday games.

Atletico Madrid v Atheltic Bilbao (Sun 3.15pm)

No advantage here for either side with both being involved in midweek Europa League fixtures. I have to be honest, this fixture is not raising my heart rate in terms of expectations.

Atletico have their tried and trusted methods which means that they are the closest challengers to Barcelona this season, but their strengths – which are to be admired – don’t exactly get you off of your seat!

They have accumulated 15 clean sheets so far in La Liga this season; they have only conceded nine goals; they have eight 1-0 wins and, guess what, I think this will be their 9^th. Last week it was game over at Malaga in less than 1 minute. Griezmann opened the scoring after 40 seconds and that was that.

This week’s opponents Athletic Bilbao are having a disappointing season. They have only won six in La Liga and lie in 13th place with 28 points. They have drawn 10 games and are not easy to beat, but they lack creative quality and coach Cuco Ziganda is coming under fire.

I’m going to go for the obvious scoreline of a 1-0 win to Atletico and they will be delighted with that.

It was Griezmann last week but this week I’m going to go for Diego Costa to get the only goal of the game.

Terry's Tips

• Atletico 1, Bilbao 0 (39-10, Unibet)
• Costa to score first (11-4, Unibet)
• Atletico win to nil (23-25, Unibet)

Real Betis v Real Madrid (Sun 7.45pm)

Both teams got impressive wins last time out in La Liga and Madrid also were victorious midweek against PSG. Betis were surprising 1-0 winners in the match at the Bernabeu earlier in the season with a late goal from Antonio Sanabria.

If Real play with the same intensity as they showed against Paris then I expect them to win this match. Will they though? That’s the problem with Madrid this season. They no doubt have the quality needed to beat a team like Betis but on too many occasions they have failed to show the correct attitude.

That makes this game the hardest one to call this week. Betis play a very deliberate possession style of football, one in which they do give opponents the chance to pressurise against. They do take chances playing out of the back and can make mistakes.

If Real are at it mentally and tactically then they have a multitude of players who can punish Betis. If they stand off and don’t pressurise then Betis will cause them problems. My prediction on this game is governed by the attacking quality of both teams. I’m going to trust the superior front line quality of the Madrid players to overpower the home team.

This will be so open it will be remarkable to watch, the atmosphere in the Benito Villamarin will be incredible and will spur on the home team to be positive and attack minded, which I think will be to their detriment.

In an attacking and open game the likes of Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema and Isco will have too much for the Betis defence. I’m going to trust Real this week to get the job done and continue their recent run of good form. It could be spectacular and I’m going to go for a 4-2 away win with Ronaldo firing on all cylinders to open the scoring.

Terry's Tips

• Betis 2, Real 4 (17-1, Unibet)
• Ronaldo to score first (11-4, Unibet)
• Over 4.5 goals (31-21, Unibet)

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