Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid Prediction: Back the Home win to Nil

Premier Sports 1 will show the home debut of Kylian Mbappe on Sunday (16:00) and they'll be plenty of interest to see how he'll fare from the Madrid faithful.

Our Spanish Football expert Mark Sochon is fairly confident of a home win and has put together two bets with the home side winning. Check out his Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid Predictions with us here at Betfred Insights...

Kylian Mbappé's home debut for Real Madrid is the hottest ticket in town this weekend in the Spanish capital with 85,000 set to pack out the Santiago Bernabéu for the visit of Real Valladolid. 

A similar number was present when the Frenchman was unveiled last month and the expectation is that he's the player that will allow the defending Spanish champions to kick on even further, and potentially blow their domestic rivals apart this season. 

The reality though, is that football is not quite that simple and even the very best players need time to adapt to each other. Last weekend's 1-1 draw at Mallorca was perhaps a slight reality check on that front, with the Balearic side very competitive in a game they might even have won in the second half. 

There were still moments when Real Madrid's immense quality shone through. They scored a fine goal through Rodrygo and looked very fluid at times early on, before fading after the break when they looked like a team that was short on fitness, after a very brief or non-existent pre-season in many cases. 

It may not be until after the international break that we start to see the best of Real Madrid, with Carlo Ancelotti's priority being for this team to peak in April and May, rather than August. The Italian rarely misses a trick in that regard, but with so much raw talent at his disposal, this is still going to be a very difficult task for newly promoted Real Valladolid. 

They have become something of a yo-yo club in recent years under the ownership of former Real Madrid striker Ronaldo. They made a slow start to the Segunda División last term and even as results started to pick up, protests continued against their coach Paulo Pezzolano. 

Things reached a slightly comical conclusion, with some fans still calling for him to leave in the final home game of the 2023/24 season when two late goals against Villarreal's B team secured a return to the top flight. Pezzolano responded by bizarrely attempting to start a chant calling for his own dismissal at the club's promotion party in the centre of Valladolid. 

Fast forward to August and the Uruguayan is still in charge, but this is far from a marriage made in heaven. The expectation is that Real Valladolid will be involved in the relegation scrap this season. 

They got off to the perfect start though, with a 1-0 home win over Espanyol in a fixture that was played out in the second tier last term. They were the only team in La Liga to keep a clean sheet on the opening weekend as Raúl Moro's goal settled a pretty poor game. 

It was Real Valladolid's only shot on target in the match and they lined up with a 4-5-1 formation and a striker that has not scored in any of his 42 appearances in the Spanish top flight. They may look for fresh additions in the final third in the last week of the transfer window, but there's little chance of them being any more adventurous in this match. 

Team News: 

Real Madrid have been dealt an early season blow with Jude Bellingham suffering a calf injury that is set to keep him out until after the international break in September. With fellow midfielder Eduardo Camavinga also sidelined, that may create an opportunity for Luka Modrić. 

The hosts will also be without Ferland Mendy after a rash late challenge at Mallorca on the opening weekend resulted in a red card. Fran García is the natural replacement in that position, while Los Blancos are expected to go with Vinicius, Mbappé and Rodrygo in attack once more. 

As for Real Valladolid, they are only likely to have one injury absentee which is midfielder Anuar Mohamed.  

Pezzolano could go with the same eleven that beat Espanyol as a result, with five players across the middle of the pitch once more. However, he could also opt to freshen things up with a bit of rotation ahead of a much more winnable fixture at home to fellow new boys Leganés on Wednesday. 

Real Madrid vs Real Valladolid Odds

Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid start as the massive favourites at 1/6 to win this game. You can back the draw at 13/2, while a highly unlikely Real Valladolid victory is out at 14/1. 

For bigger returns, you can back Real Madrid -1.00 handicap at 1/2 while Ancelotti's side are priced at 5/4 with a -2.00 handicap. You can also take your pick between Real Madrid and under 3.5 goals, and Real Madrid and over 3.5 goals, both of which are available at 6/5. 

Both teams to score is on offer at Evens in this one, while you can back a Real Madrid clean sheet at 4/5, a winning bet in every meeting so far in the 2020's. 

Many of those inside the Santiago Bernabéu will be there primarily to catch a first glimpse of Mbappé in action. He's priced at 11/4 to score first and 4/6 to score anytime on his home debut. You can also use the #PickYourPunt tool to back Mbappé to have 3+ shots on target at 7/10, while he's 8/5 to have 4+ shots on target. 

As for the other members of the Real Madrid attack, Vincius is available at 19/20 to score anytime, while you can back Rodrygo to build on his strike last week and score anytime at 7/5. 

From a visiting perspective, Amath Ndiaye and Mamadou Sylla are on offer at 4/1 to score in this game, while last week's hero Raúl Moro perhaps offers better value at 15/2 to do likewise. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Bet 1 - Real Madrid to win, Under 4.5 goals & Real Madrid most corners @ 49/50 

Real Valladolid have suffered relegation the last two times they've played in La Liga and despite winning their opening game, it still feels very likely that they'll be in the relegation picture again. 

They don't really have any obvious attacking weapons that are likely to cause big problems for this Real Madrid defence, so it should be a much smoother ride for Los Blancos than last weekend when they struggled against the aerial threat of Mallorca's Vedat Muriqi. 

I expect the away team to set up very defensively and while Ancelotti's side should have more than enough to win the game, I don't see them being at their very best and running riot in just the second league match of the campaign after such a limited pre-season. 

As a result, I'm using the #PickYourPunt builder to back Real Madrid to win, under 4.5 goals and Real Madrid most corners at 49/50. 

Bet 2 - Real Madrid to win to nil @ 9/10 

The last five meetings have all ended in Real Madrid victories to nil and it's hard to know where the goal threat is going to come from for Real Valladolid. This would appear a very unlikely game for their striker Mamadou Sylla to end his long goal drought at the top level, but they don't really have any obviously better options to freshen up their attack. 

Even as they won promotion last season from the second tier, Real Valladolid still lost 48% of their away games and they are likely to toil against elite opposition with predicted temperatures of 35°C at kick-off tomorrow in the Spanish capital.  

I'm backing Real Madrid to win to nil at 9/10. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...