From The Trading Desk: Busy Easter weekend across Europe

bet365's Steve Freeth takes a look back at the Easter weekend Real Madrid and Barcelona secured dramatic wins.

2 Goals Ahead Early Payout and Sub On Play On Offers come through

We were pleased with the business we saw considering there were no real standout fixtures on the Premier League Easter Weekend coupon.

Manchester City and Liverpool both winning in low-scoring games was perfect for us while the Saturday 3pm draws at Crystal Palace and Bournemouth kept us ticking over.

Manchester United drifted like a barge (8/11 out to 8/5) but there was no damage done by Wolves’ 1-0 win at Old Trafford, though we did lose on games involving free-scoring Aston Villa and Arsenal with the help of our Sub On Play On concession.

The best fixture on paper looked to be at Villa Park and so it proved with yet more joy for bet365 customers. Villa have cost us heavily in recent games against Forest and Southampton and it was more of the same here as we saw Onana and Ramsey coming on for the popular pair of Asensio and McGinn with the Belgian international scoring a piledriver and the Englishman being booked.

And this carried onto Sunday with Bukayo Saka hooked on 57 minutes with and replacement Ethan Nwaneri scoring late on to the joy of Saka Anytime & Shot on Target backers as we suffered our costliest result of the weekend at Portman Road.

Drama in La Liga

Over in La Liga, the games involving the top three all had injury-time winners. We paid out on Celta Vigo when they went 3-1 up against Barcelona but you’re never comfortable when this happens because Hansi Flick’s side were level within six minutes and then you’re just waiting for the net to bulge with a late Barca winner! Step forward, Ballon d’Or favourite Raphinha to seal a 4-3 comeback for the league leaders leaving us paying out on both sides winning as part of our 2 Goals Ahead Early Payout offer.

Federico Valverde kept Real Madrid in the title hunt with his 93rd-minute winner but the damage was minimal and our decent winner was at Las Palmas where they scored late to chin 8/13 shots Atletico Madrid.

In Serie A, we saw both Milan sides fall to a 1-0 defeat with 5/4 Inter losing at Bologna and 6/4 Milan beaten by Atalanta in a weekend littered with low-scoring matches.

Steve Freeth

• European Football
• La Liga
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