Atl. Madrid vs Almeria prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-12-09 13:00.
Atlético Madrid's wait for a victory away to Barcelona will now span more than 17 years after a 1-0 loss in the last round left them rooted in fourth place. The most bitter aspect of the defeat was that João Félix delivered the match winner in Barcelona colours against his parent club, scoring for the club he reportedly wishes to join permanently.
There were no congratulations on offer for FĂ©lix from his former coach Diego Simeone – quite the opposite in fact – so the squad could be eager to quell their frustrations by bullying La Liga (LL) minnows AlmerĂa. As one of just three clubs across Europe’s traditional top-five leagues to start this weekend with a 100% home win rate in league football, they have every reason to believe they’ll bounce back, although the most recent of their seven LL home wins (1-0 v Mallorca) was the only one accompanied by a clean sheet.
In their previous LL outing, basement boys AlmerĂa were shut out for just the fourth time this season (0-0 v Real Betis) in a match that prompted a visibly concerned head coach Gaizka Garitano to declare “it seems impossible to win a game”. That was certainly one of their best chances to break the drought, given Betis played more than one hour with ten men, but they instead had to settle for a draw that Garitano said “tastes like practically nothing to us”.
Their upcoming trips to AtlĂ©tico and Barcelona appear likely to turn that taste even more sour considering AlmerĂa have lost all four LL clashes to clubs ranked above Betis in the standings, all by a 2+ goal margin. They couldn’t even get the better of a Copa del Rey trip to fourth-tier side Barbastro during the week, eliminated after failing to score (L 1-0).
Players to watch: Antoine Griezmann has recorded second-half goals in three of AtlĂ©tico’s last four LL home games, as well as a double in last season’s home win over AlmerĂa. For the visitors, Largie Ramazani has already matched his scoring output of last season (three goals in all competitions) after finding the net in AlmerĂa’s last LL away game.
Hot stat: Atlético have won all eight LL matches this season when they’ve scored first.