La Liga Betting: Madrid chase third bonus win

Spanish Football / Dan Fitch / 28 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

The Spanish champions must put their striker desperation on hold as they face a tricky trip to Getafe, writes Dan Fitch.

Nothing puts off women like the whiff of sexual desperation. Even if you manage to adopt a casual demeanour, they can somehow smell it on you. I'm so glad that I'm now married and no longer have to spend evenings talking to some hairdresser from Chigwell, who'll eventually me give the elbow after I've spent £30 on drinks for her.

Men are equally wary of women who give off the whiff of boyfriend desperation. A word of advice ladies; if you've just met a man, try not to talk about your dream wedding or ask his opinion on soft furnishings. He'll be able to work out which way your thoughts are headed.

Real Madrid are currently giving off the whiff of striker desperation. The problem with this is that if every other club knows that you are really desperate for a striker, then they will inevitably add a couple of zeroes should you enquire about their number nine.

Real Madrid have this week been linked with a colossal number of strikers. If all these players were put in one room and a bomb went off, it would be several seasons before a goal was again scored on a football pitch.

Rumours have abounded regarding the proposed arrivals of Hernan Crespo, Mauro Zarate, Carlos Tevez, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Keirrison, Andrei Arshavin, Ryan Babel, David Trezeguet and Amr Zaki.

If you're a striker and your name is not on that list, you need to have a serious think as to what you're doing wrong.

Madrid must put their search for a striker aside on Saturday, when they face a tricky trip to Getafe. Real have won their last two games, but looked far from brilliant in either. Making it three wins on the bounce against a Getafe side that came close to defeating Barcelona last weekend, will be a tall order.

A defeat for Real against Recreativo de Huelva last Saturday would have pushed Bernd Schuster even closer to the sack. Madrid took the lead in the first half, thanks to a Wesley Sneijder goal which took a wicked deflection. The second-half was most notable for the injury that saw the Real forward Gonzalo Higuain leave the field on a stretcher.

Higuain was missing from Madrid's midweek Champions League tie against BATE Borisov in midweek, forcing Schuster to recall Javier Saviola to partner Raul. It was Raul who sealed the win with a well taken goal after seven minutes.

These two wins will have delighted the Real Madrid squad, even if they were achieved without much in the way of finesse. This is because they have been offered a Christmas bonus by Ramon Calderon that these victories have gone some way to securing. Calderon reputedly offered the squad a 120,000 euro bonus if they won five games in a row (starting with the Recreativo match), although the squad have apparently stated they will only accept the bonus if they win seven games.

This has caused the Getafe president Angel Torres to get all political. Torres has stated that talk of such inflated figures were in bad taste, at a time when Spain is in an economic crisis, with three million people unemployed.

This adds a nice little spice to a match between two local rivals. Encounters between Real Madrid and Getafe have been surprisingly even. From their last eight La Liga meetings, both sides have won three times, with two games ending as draws.

Madrid are without Higuain, Heinze and Cannavaro and are also missing long term absentees Robben, Van Nistlerooy, Diarra and Ruben de la Red. Getafe are likely to field the same side that humbled Barcelona last week, though their striker Manu del Moral is an injury doubt.

Though Getafe will be pleased with their result over Barcelona, they will be mindful that they have now gone a full month without victory. Their goal against Barcelona was the first they had scored in four games.

Getafe are [3.5], with the draw at [3.6] and Real Madrid the [2.26] favourites. Neither side has managed to score more than one goal against the other, in their last 6 games against each other. This makes the under 1.5 goals at [3.55] and under 2.5 goals at [1.91] excellent value, especially considering the lack of strikers at Madrid's disposal. A 1-0 Real win is [8.8], with the same score in Getafe's favour available at [11.5].