Matchweek 1 of La Liga continues on Wednesday as Atlético Madrid host newly promoted Malaga.
Atlético are -350 favorites on the moneyline for this one on DraftKings Sportsbook, with a draw available at +450. Fancy a Malaga upset? They are +900 to pick up three points.
This bet can be found under the “Match Parlays” tab. Atlético Madrid finished fourth in La Liga last season, a disappointing year by their standards. That is five seasons in a row now where they have finished either third or fourth in the table since they last won the league in 2020/21.
They made some key moves this offseason, but none bigger than holding onto Julián Alvarez who was desperate to go to rivals Barcelona. Along with that, they brought in DM Morten Hjulmand, CAM Lee Kang-in and LB Alejandro Grimaldo. They didn’t stop there, however. Arguably their biggest signing of the summer will be CB Cristian Romero from Tottenham. Although the move is not official as of writing this and he will likely not feature in this game, it’s been reported that the deal is done for 40 million euros.
Those are some big moves this summer for Atlético to close the gap between themselves and the top two teams in the country, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
As for this game, you can’t really ask for a better fixture to start the season if you’re an Atlético fan. A home game against a newly promoted team is exactly what you want, and I think they will take care of business against Malaga handily. Malaga finished fourth in La Liga 2 last season, winning the playoffs to get promoted, and this game is a massive step up in competition. In fact, Malaga have not been in La Liga since the 2017/18 season when they were relegated. This is a tough task for your first game back in the division after eight seasons.
Atlético were tough to beat at home last season with 15 wins out of 19 games at the Metropolitano Stadium. I think this will be a lopsided victory in favor of the home team.