A topsy-turvy start to the Revista Predictor on La Liga Matchday 1
Tuesday 22 August 2017 16:45, UK
The first round of our new Revista Predictor caught almost everyone out - and even the experts are taken aback by some of the results!
Just to remind you, we pick three games per matchday to predict - it's one point for the right match outcome, another three points for the correct exact score, and six points if you guess the first goalscorer.
First to the controversy: there was uproar related to the middle game of the three needing to be forecast, with my four esteemed colleagues all saying that Lionel Messi would open the scoring at the Nou Camp. The truth is, he did dominate the first half and indeed the whole game, but the first time that Real Betis 'keeper Antonio Adan was beaten by Barcelona, it was the tiniest of touches from Alin Tosca which made it an own goal. It looked at first glance like a Messi backheel, another bit of brilliance from the diminutive Argentine, but it was not to be - OG was the official decision., Still at least they got the match outcome right...my punt on a point for Betis didn't pay off.
We could all have missed out in the first game, with Celta Vigo twice in front against Real Sociedad at Balaidos, but none of us had gone for a home win. Thankfully, to the relief of Rob Palmer, David Phillips and myself, Willian Jose converted an 88th-minute penalty to give La Real the win...and give the three of us a point each.
But Levante made us all feel a bit silly - captain Jose Luis Morales, who had been impressive throughout the match against Villarreal, earned the La Liga new boys a spot kick late on...and Morales himself slid it perfectly into the bottom right-hand corner past Andres Fernandez to snatch victory. How many of us had gone for a Levante win? Zero. We didn't even think they'd get a point. The Revista Predictor has bared its teeth already - Spanish football "experts" beware...
So here's the table after matchday 1 - Palmer tied for the lead, his commentary colleague Kevin Keatings bringing up the rear on alphabetical order (phew!):
A shout-out to a few of you on Twitter who were impressive with your predictions:
@JosephMac94 got match outcome and even first goalscorer right on the Levante-Villarreal game, and also said Barcelona would win - 8 points!
@davidsmileham got the Celta-Real Sociedad match outcome right, and was spot on with the Barcelona v Betis result - 5 points
@DavidBeaton44, @MarkWasinski, @MossySkeeto, @DarkishJungle and @Ballonb1 got the exact score and result right on Barcelona v Betis - 4 points
@Realandrea91 was the only other person to predict a Levante win - 2 points (but it deserves more)
We'll announce the chosen games for Matchday 2 of LaLiga on Friday morning from the @SkyRevista account on Twitter - so reply to that pinned tweet to take part
