Betfair Official Blog

Total Goals Guys

Two out of three keeps us on the comeback trail

The "Total Goals Guys" talk us through their weekend's betting where Bayern Munich and Barcelona obliged but Real Madrid let them down

One of our weekend selections fell foul to the now notorious Fir Park pitch. Elsewhere 2 correct selections out of three sees the balance rise yet again but by a more moderate 12% to £60.06.

Celtic's re-arranged fixture at Motherwell on Saturday was cancelled for the 3rd time and owner John Boyle has since released a statement via BBC Radio Scotland where he told Scottish Football Supporters that the club were "hugely embarrassed" and that "there were no excuse for the games being called off". That's a bit harsh given the recent weather up here in Scotland but Gretna using the surface every other week certainly hasn't helped matters.

That left us with 3 games to boost our betting bank and the first of these came in Germany where leaders Bayern Munich crashed to a shock 2-0 defeat at rock bottom Cottbus. The Bundesliga giants were red-hot favourites for this one at around [1.33] in the match-odds but found themselves 2 down at the break thanks to a first half double from Jelic. In-play punters expecting a Bayern come back would have been looking with intersest at odds-on backs of both 3 and 4 goals or more - our lay of 4 goals or more at [2.95] certainly looked in trouble. The lay proved a wise move however with neither side finding a breakthrough in the 2nd period.

We suggested there was an unpredictable element to Real Madrid's visit to Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday evening. The 1-0 home win certainly lived up to the recent form in this fixture and the league leaders will have to wait until next season to put an end to their horrendous run here. The goals we predicted simply failed to materialise and the back of 3 or more at [2.04] rarely looked as if it would flourish. Despite the hosts taking the lead through a Pepe og on the hour mark, Los Merengues failed to fashion even an equaliser. It left us staring down the barrel of 30% loss unless we got 3 or more in the following nights clash between Almeria and Barcelona.

Saturday night's result must have been a real shot in the arm for Barcelona who knew a win could take them to within 5 points of the leaders again. They certainly wasted no time in capitalising and found themselves 1 up on 17 minutes through Bojan. We fancied the hosts to continue their respectable form against the bigger name opponents this term and it proved to be a good call as they battled their way back into the match and found an equaliser through Polido on 33'. 1-1 at the interval was satisfactory given we were on a back of 3 goals or more at [2.1]. Barca needed the points desperately and sure enough Samuel Eto'o put the visitors in front for the second time in the game with 30 minutes still to play. Further drama ensued however and the steely hosts found an equaliser with 4 minutes remaining that further dents Barca's poor away record this term, not to mention their Primera Division Title hopes.

The Old Firm were out of domestic action for differing reasons this weekend and that left us with 7 remaining fixtures to choose from. These matches averaged exactly 2 per game so it can be said it was a poor week in terms of goals and we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have made it through to Monday unscathed.