Football betting tips: Ligue 1, La Liga
19:45 – Ligue 1: Rennes vs PSG
3pts Both Teams to Score at 4/7 (bet365, Coral)
20:30 – La Liga: Elche vs Barcelona
1pt Barcelona -1.5 Asian Handicap at 7/8 (bet365)
1pt Raphinha to score anytime at 11/8 (Sky Bet)
Rennes vs PSG
- Kick-off: Sunday, 19:45 BST
- TV: Amazon Prime PPV
- Live odds, form and stats
PSG start their title defence on Sunday night but have to open away from home after some bizarre circumstances. What was supposed to be a home game for the Ligue 1 champions is now an away game with the fixture ‘reversed’ with just four days notice because the pitch at PSG’s Parc des Princes was unfit to stage the match.
So instead it will now be a sell-out encounter at Rennes’ 30,000-seater Roazhon Park, where the home fans get the unexpected treat of seeing their favourites take on the Ligue 1 and European champions. Rennes normally play fearless football at home, and their pre-season form makes an attacking encounter even more likely.
Rennes’ six pre-season friendlies produced 25 goals (4.17 goals per game), with both teams finding the net in all six matches. The hosts will be confident of breaching a PSG defence that looked far from impermeable in their 1-0 Champions Trophy defeat vs Lens last weekend but, keen to make amends for that setback, the visitors should score as well.
While it might be too short for some, BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE at 4/7 is our main selection. A bolder pick would be Over 3.5 Goals (11/10), but we prefer a safer choice on matchday 1.
As for the props markets, Esteban Lepaul would be the player to follow. He was Ligue 1’s 21-goal top scorer last season and we flagged him up as a Golden Boot candidate in our European outright preview.
Lepaul scored seven goals in Rennes’ six pre-season run-outs, and will be their main man in attack. He is 12/5 (William Hill) in the Anytime Goalscorer market. Even taking into account the calibre of opposition he is facing, those odds look generous given his form.
Elche vs Barcelona
- Kick-off: Sunday, 20:30 BST
- TV: Premier Sports 1
- Live odds, form and stats
Barcelona are our pick to make a winning start to their La Liga title defence on Sunday evening.
Some players are likely to be missing for Barca - recent signing Rodri is likely to sit out the game, for example - but Hansi Flick’s visitors (1/3) should still have the quality to collect all three points at Elche.
La Liga observers may favour the hosts - 8/1 (bet365) to win - because of their fantastic home record last season. Elche were a sensational W9-D8-L2 in front of their own fans, their tremendous home points total the reason they were able to escape relegation by a single point.
Yet, one of the only two teams to win at Elche were… Barcelona. Their January 2026 victory was extremely comfortable, too: Barca won 3-1, but their Expected Goals (xG) advantage on the night paints a better picture of the total command they enjoyed. Barca’s xG was an incredible 6.44 to Elche’s 1.00, with the Catalonians creating 13 big chances (according to Opta’s definition).
There are some concerns surrounding Barcelona’s attack following the summer departures of Robert Lewandowski (Chicago Fire) and Ferran Torres (PSG). Dig deeper, however, and Barcelona still look stacked in the final third.
New signing Karim Adeyemi supplements Lamine Yamal on the right wing; Anthony Gordon does the same with Raphinha on the opposite flank; while Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo continue to offer clever no.10 options. Teenagers Jesse Bisiwu and Hamza Abdelkarim have weighed in with some fine performances in pre-season, too.
We’re happy to back BARCELONA to win by a couple of goals (-1.5 ASIAN HANDICAP), while RAPHINHA looks value TO SCORE ANYTIME at 11/18. The Brazilian scored in Barcelona's 2-1 final friendly win over Al Ahly on Wednesday, and looks in good shape to take centre stage in Barca's new-look attack.
Odds correct at 16:00 BST (19/08/26)
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