Betting.Betfair.com
·12 January 2025
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·12 January 2025
Jesus Gil Manzano: La Liga's strictest referee in card terms this season
Barcelona v Real MadridSunday 12 January, 19:00
It's the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday evening and for the third year running, it will be Barcelona and Real Madrid battling it out for the trophy.
As you probably know, 'El Clasico' is a fixture which has traditionally produced plenty of cards.
It's a route I'm prepared to pursue, even if I am a little wary of the fact that the Supercopa now takes place in Jeddah and, no matter how the Saudis spin it, this game won't have the same fervent atmosphere as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou (and, yes, I know Barca aren't playing there this season).
My approach here is to focus in on Vinicius Junior.
He's a big-game player, one who scored in last season's Champions League final.
The Brazilian also bagged a hat-trick in this final 12 months ago, while he found the net against Barcelona in last season's La Liga 'title decider' and the previous season's Copa del Rey semi-final.
As for current form, Vini has scored in seven of his last 11 starts for Real.
In short, I'm happy to put him down for a goal against a Barca side who have won just one of their last seven in La Liga.
For our Bet Builder, I'm also going to add Vinicius to be shown card.
Again, the reason is two-fold - his history against Barca and his recent form.
On the former point, Vinicius has been carded in five of his last nine appearances in El Clasico.
Meanwhile, he's been carded in four of those aforementioned 11 recent starts (and in five of his last 13 appearances in total).
This to-score-and-be-carded bet has landed twice in those 11 matches and three times in all this season. It also paid out in June's Champions League final - when followers of this column were on.
Throw in the fact that the referee, Jesus Gil Manzano, is La Liga's best for cards so far this season - he's averaging more than seven per game - and I'm happy to play this double again at around 13/2.
Staked: 180pts Returned: 191.65pts 2024/25 P/L: +11.65pts
2023/24 P/L: +16.78pts 2022/23 P/L: +68.69pts