European league football is slowly making its way back, and with it comes another weekend of top quality football and fresh betting opportunities. This week, the Bundesliga joins the fold, with Thomas Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund league bow coming at home to Champions League qualifiers Borussia Mönchengladbach. Can either topple perennial champions Bayern Munich? La Liga is another week away, but the Supercopa sees defending league and cup champions Barcelona take on Copa del Rey finalists Athletic Bilbao. Lionel Messi and co. will be looking to start the 20151/16 in style as they chase both their domestic titles and the Champions League trophy they picked up in Berlin three months ago.
There is action in France as well, and a Marseille side reeling from the loss of manager Marcelo Bielsa and a clutch of key players take on Reims on Sunday. There is plenty of action in the Football League in England as well, and the highlight is a clash between two sides looking for promotion to the top flight. Queens Park Rangers are looking to return to the Premier League at the first attempt, while Cardiff City will be hoping for more after an uninspiring Championship campaign last season. These matches range between foregone conclusions and contests with real shock value, so the best betting tip would be to pick up on what the more niche markets have to offer.
- Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona – Luis Suarez first goal scorer (7/2 at Bet365)
- Queens Park Rangers vs Cardiff City – Draw (12/5 at BetVictor)
- Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Mönchengladbach – Borussia Mönchengladbach to win (4/1 at Bet365)
- Reims vs Marseille – Reims to win (12/5 at Bet365)
- See also our separate Premier League betting tips article for 15th & 16th August
Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona – 14th August
After an incredible 5-4 victory over Sevilla following extra time in the UEFA Super Cup, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique will be hoping for a more sedate affair in Friday’s Spanish Supercopa first leg match against Athletic Bilbao. The Catalonians now hold the Super Cup as well as La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, and will be looking to add yet another title to their crowded trophy room (Barca have a room, not a cabinet!) with a win over their Basque opponents. Athletic Bilbao only qualified for the two-legged final by reaching last season’s Copa del Rey final, which they lost 3-1 to Barcelona, so Ernesto Valverde’s side are the clear underdogs.
It was Lionel Messi who stole the show in the Copa del Rey final, and who scored two brilliant free-kicks against Sevilla on Tuesday, but Luis Suarez is worth a punt at 7/2 with Bet365 to score first on Friday. The Uruguayan was top scorer for Barcelona in pre-season and notched his club’s fourth goal in the Super Cup on Tuesday. With Neymar missing out through mumps, Suarez will lead the forward line with Messi playing just off him, and plenty of chances should fall his way. It would be very unlike Suarez not to take at least one.
- Luis Suarez to score first – 7/2 at Bet365
Queens Park Rangers vs Cardiff City – 15th August
Queens Park Rangers are in serious danger of becoming English football’s new yo-yo club. After relegation in the 2012/13 season, they returned to the Premier League just a year later with a win over Derby in the Championship play-off final. However, their stay in the top flight was fleeting, and now Chris Ramsey’s side are back in the Championship promotion race. The R’s did not start as they mean to go on either, as they were outfought and outplayed in a 2-0 defeat against London rivals Charlton. The home faithful will be expecting much more when QPR take on Cardiff in their first game of the season at Loftus Road. A comfortable 3-0 win away to Yeovil in the Capital One Cup will at least provide some cheer ahead of this season’s home bow.
Russell Slade’s Cardiff City side will be hoping that come May they are tussling with QPR at the top of the Championship table. Last season failed to live up to expectations, with the Bluebirds finishing 11th, and Slade has decided to stick with last season’s squad, cutting deadwood rather than refreshing the club with too many new faces. Two games in, the season has been the Craig Noone show, with the Cardiff midfielder scoring a spectacular equaliser against Fulham and the winner against AFC Wimbledon in the Capital One Cup. Cardiff’s summer contrasted greatly with a QPR side that brought in 12 players in a squad overhaul, but on the pitch the two sides seem well-matched. A draw seems a good bet, and BetVictor are offering 12/5 on that very outcome.
- Draw – 12/5 at BetVictor
Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Mönchengladbach – 16th August
One finished third and qualified for the group stage of the Champions League, while the other were bottom of the table in February before recovering and finishing seventh. You would expect Borussia Dortmund to be the former, with the latter form being much more typical of Borussia Mönchengladbach in recent years, but it was Dortmund who suffered last time out. Charismatic manager Jurgen Klopp departed, but new boss Thomas Tuchel has managed to retain the core of the squad and will have high hopes of pushing Bayern Munich all the way in the Bundesliga. Wins in the Europa League and the DFB Pokal have set them on the path to success, but a game against Lucien Favre’s Foals is the toughest challenge for Tuchel so far.
Gladbach have not won a trophy in 20 years, but finishing narrowly behind second place Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, plus impressive runs in both domestic and European competitions, has given fans a fresh sense of hope. Star striker Max Kruse has left for the Wolves but Josip Drmic was quickly drafted in as his replacement, and Lars Stindl arrives in place of outgoing Christoph Kramer. The Foals lost at the Westfalenstadion thanks to a 40-yard Kramer own goal, but had a knack of winning at the homes of their rivals last season, and the likes of Raffael and Patrick Herrmann offer them the firepower to do it again. The 4/1 Bet365 are offering on Gladbach to taste victory in Dortmund is surprisingly generous, and therefore well worth taking.
- Borussia Mönchengladbach to win – 4/1 at Bet365
Reims vs Marseille – 16th August
It has been a tough start to the season for Marseille. After an opening day defeat against Caen, manager Marcelo Bielsa quit as boss, citing a lack of trust in the club. A number of high profile players have left, primarily Dimitri Payet, Giannelli Imbula and the two Andrés (not quite the Two Ronnies), Ayew and Gignac. Nicolas Nkoulou and Florian Thauvin are also close to leaving, and even the signings of Lucas Ocampos, Karim Rekik and injury-prone Abou Diaby will not appease fans. The performance in a 1-0 reverse against underdogs Caen was the cause of real concern, and fans will not be hopeful of bettering last season’s fourth place finish, which in itself was a disappointment after a title challenge went off the rails.
Reims are next in line for Marseille, and the side from the Stade Auguste Delaune will have high hopes of a solid season now they have established themselves as a Ligue Un club. The 1956 and 1959 European Cup runners-up and home of France legends like Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, do not quite have a return to the elite of continental football in their sights, but Reims are now in their fourth season back in the top flight and will be confident of taking on the league’s big hitters. There couldn’t be a better time to take on a shell-shocked Marseille. Bet365 are offering 12/5 on Reims pulling off what would technically be an upset, but would hardly be a shock.
- Reims to win – 12/5 at Bet365