Football Bet of the Day: All eyes on key clash in Spain

We’ve got an absolutely belting club game coming our way on Sunday afternoon as top of the Segunda Division in Spain Racing, host third-placed Levante in a crucial clash in the race for promotion. Just like in the English Championship, the top two go up automatically, and teams from third to sixth enter the play-offs, so finishing in the automatic spots is absolutely vital for those teams with La Liga ambitions. 

I’m focusing on this fixture for Sunday’s Football Bet of the Day, and below you can find my selection. 

Now I’m aware I’m going against the grain here by backing the league leaders to lose at home, but I just feel a Levante win offers massive value in comparison to a home success. These two teams in my mind are evenly matched and will play out an incredibly tight and tense game at El Sardinero. 

Racing have been impressive so far on paper, winning five of their eight matches, but they are unlikely candidates to win the league this term, having finished 7th last season. They haven’t been in La Liga since 2012 and haven’t even threatened to make a return over the last decade, instead spending a major period in the third tier of Spanish football. 

Still, that is all in the past and they are certainly a club making progress, but I think they will come undone at some point. They survived a late comeback at Real Zaragoza last time out to secure a 3-2 win, however that did come at a cost, as Manu Hernando was sent off early in the second half. 

He will miss this one through suspension and that certainly does play a part in my selection as he has been a dominant figure at the heart of the defence, starting every single league match so far. His absence weakens Racing, while they showed against Zaragoza that they are susceptible to conceding goals. 

Prior to that game, they also surprisingly lost 2-1 at home to Cartagena, a poor outfit who have lost six of their eight games so far and sit 20th. Prior to that they recorded three 1-0 wins on the bounce, nine points that propelled them to the top of the table, but those wins also tell their own story. They were clearly second-best against CD Castellon but won with a penalty, while the win over Tenerife was also a close-run thing. 

I just feel they’ve got away with it for a few weeks, and they host a Levante side with a lot of pedigree, fighting to get back into La Liga. They’ve finished third and eighth in their last two seasons at this level, and will want to push back into the play-off picture under new boss Julian Calero. He only joined this summer but has made a strong start. Levante have won three of their last five games, and kicked the season off with two impressive away wins at Elche and Sporting Gijon. 

I think they’ve got more than enough to win this game, and think the value certainly lies with the away side. If I wanted to push things further I would have them to win to nil, but we will play things safe and go for a straight away win as our Football Bet of the Day for Sunday, October 13.