Spain v Serbia Preview & Tips (26th May)

European and World Champions Spain meet Serbia this Saturday, May 26. The friendly is scheduled to start at 16:00 GMT.

Teams News

Spain

Spain is the top contender for this summer’s European Championship. They will be defending their crown however, with a few concerns they need to address before the tournament beings. One, they will not have the services of Barcelona duo David Villa and Carles Puyol due to injuries. While the team is never short of personnel to take their respective places, Spain will definitely need an opportunity to test a number of who’s-going-to-replace-who scenarios. This friendly against Serbia is a perfect opportunity for that.

There’s a bit of an issue in the fact that the Copa del Rey finals will be played on Friday, a day before this friendly. With Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao participating in such game, Vicente del Bosque will be without a lot of old faces when they face Serbia. This nevertheless should help him experiment and perhaps a last-minute gem from his second string just before the tournament begins.

Serbia

Serbia couldn’t buy a break last year as they were boxed out by Estonia in their UEFA Euro qualifying campaign. The Serbians finished third in Qualifying Group C just behind Italy, and Estonia (only a solitary point separated them from the Estonians). As a result of all the tough luck handed to the Serbians, they will be missing the Euro for the third straight time since 2004.

Serbia’s form is profoundly telling of their fate in the recent years – in the last five games, Serbia lost three and drawn one. Only a win against Armenia makes their recent record never bereft of a victory, at the very least. Then again for a team with a rich European history – two runner-up finishes in ’60 and ’68 when they were still ‘Yugoslavia’ – you would definitely expect much.

Spain v Serbia Betting Preview

You wouldn’t expect an upset here unless you’re out of your mind – even Spain’s second-stringers, if fielded from start to finish without any substitution whatsoever has the capability to challenge Serbia. With due respect to Serbian fans, everybody will be watching on how Spain plays this game and win at the expense of making Serbia look like a tune-up squad.

Betting Tip

Verdict: Spain to win 3-0.

Tip:

Spain is at 2/5 to win with a 17/2 odds for a final scoreline of 3-0. There’s some sort of uncertainty in a ‘game to go over 2.5 goals at 4/5’ since such eventuality ultimately rests on the shoulders of the Spaniards – unless of course you fancy the Serbians to chip in a goal or two.

Fernando Torres couldn’t find a place in the starting XI in Chelsea’s CL win against Bayern Munich. The Spaniard didn’t even get to shoot a penalty at the end of the game. The Spaniard is due for a big-time bounce-back so look to him to score anytime at 11/10. Del Bosque will definitely invest in him given Villa’s absence so watch out for the stiker in the coming weeks.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).