We're almost halfway through the 2023/24 La Liga season. One of the biggest stories of the campaign so far is the resilience of Girona. Despite only having joined the Spanish top flight a year ago, the team has managed to remain at the top of the standings for most of the season.
Of course, Real Madrid and Barcelona are breathing down the neck of Girona and are expected to take over the first two spots in the second half of the season, with Atletico Madrid close behind.
With the current situation in mind, we'll look at the odds and teams with the best chances of winning this year's La Liga, according to top U.S. sportsbooks.
After finishing as runner-ups to Barca last year, Real Madrid, who play at Santiago Bernabeu, is looking to bounce back and win its record 36th La Liga title.
Los Blancos are the overwhelming favorites at the moment, with their current odds sitting at -320. Real's La Liga odds before the start of the season were at around +100, but the team is currently a couple of wins ahead of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. While Girona is fighting to stay neck-and-neck with Real, a lot of people are expecting them to fall behind at some point.
Barcelona, who play at the legendary Camp Nou, is still the second favorite to win La Liga at the time of writing, with their odds being +650. Barca's odds were at around +130 for most of September and October, but the team slipped over the past few weeks, winning only one of their last four games, with a 2–4 home loss to Girona on December 10.
Girona, playing at Montilivi, is one of this year's most hotly debated topics in European football. Many expected the Catalonian team to fight to hold off the relegation zone. However, 16 games into the campaign, and Girona is still at the very top, proving that their strong start of the year wasn't just a fluke.
Girona's odds before the season were at a whooping +100000, while they are currently the only team alongside Real and Barca with odds lower than 10-to-1. US betting sites are now offering around +750 on Girona to win it all.
The team's odds of winning La Liga have steadily increased throughout August and September and are now at an all-time high after the upset against Barcelona.
Girona has won seven of their last eight games and has yet to suffer a loss since the Real Madrid encounter in late September.
It will be very interesting to see how things turn out for Girona. Will they pull off a "Leicester" and complete their Cinderella story?
The only remaining team that is given any realistic shot at winning this year's La Liga is Atletico Madrid, who play at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano. The 2020/21 champs have kept pace with the league's top teams for most of the campaign, but recent losses to Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona have set them back a bit. Atletico Madrid currently has odds of +1300 to win.
Following these top four are Athletic Bilbao (+12000) and Real Sociedad (+28000). At the moment, the top candidates for relegation are Almeria, Granada, and Cadiz.
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