One Paddy Power punter picked the perfect way to ring in the new year last weekend, and that’s by pulling down our pants with a stunning accumulator that we can still hardly believe. Our winner – who hails from south Wales – correctly called the result of 19 (Yes, NINETEEN) football matches across the continent of Europe on Saturday and Sunday to bring in the most beautiful of bets.
The whopping acca included six games from Italy’s Serie A, four from La Liga, another four from the Bundesliga, three games in the Premier League, The Old Firm Derby in Scotland and a final one from Portugal’s Primeira Liga. It really was the stuff of weekend acca dreams as our victor placed just a £5 stake on the perfect punt and watched on in dreamland as it eventually returned £29,385 late on Sunday evening.
The bonkers bet beat off odds of 5,876/1 to land, but as always there was a bit of drama along the way and our crafty customer has a certain ex-Liverpool striker to thank for scoring the winnings. Let’s tell you how it come in:
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Our long, winding journey begins on Saturday in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as our victor predicted a home win for Spurs over newly-promoted Leeds United in the early kick-off, and Jose Mourinho’s men duly delivered a 3-0 success thanks to goals from Harry Keane, Heung-Min Son and Toby Alderwiereld. A short hop to Scotland was required next and our winner was hoping Rangers could do the business against their greatest rivals Celtic in the Old Firm Derby. The Gers did just that, as a Callum McGregor own goal practically sealed the Scottish title for Steven Gerrard’s side.
Staying in England and our customer was also seeking victories for Arsenal and Crystal Palace on Saturday. Roy Hodgson’s outfit duly held up their part of the bargain by piling yet more misery on Sheffield United as they ran out 2-0 winners at Selhurst Park. Later that evening The Gunners continued their resurgence to make it three wins on the spin for Mikel Arteta, as they battered West Brom 4-0 at The Hawthorns.
Also on Saturday our winner had an eye on action in the Iberian Peninsula with three more games in Portugal and Spain on the hitlist. Villarreal saw off Levante 2-1 and Real Madrid secured a 2-0 home success over Celta Vigo in La Liga to keep the ball rolling on the bet, and that was added to by Sporting’s 2-0 home triumph against Braga in the Primeira Liga.
Lastly on Saturday, Germany was the next port of call for three games in the Bundesliga. Thankfully, Borussia Monchengladbach, Hertha Belin and RB Leipzig didn’t let our punter down and secured wins over Arminia Bielefeld, Schalke 04 and Stuttgart respectively to keep our show on the road.
It must have been a restless night for our victor as there was still nine further legs of the accumulator down for decision on Sunday. But, they biggest worry came from Spain thanks to a plucky performance from Alaves at home to the mighty Atletico Madrid.
The men from the Spanish capital took the lead in the 41st minute when Marcos Llorente broke the deadlock, and all looked rosy in the garden when Victor Lagnardia saw red for the home side just after the hour mark. But, instead of cruising to an away win, Atletico made life hard for themselves when Felipe planted the ball past his own keeper to level matters with six minutes to go. Luckily, for our winner, Luis Suarez managed to get himself on the end of a low cross as the clocked ticked into injury time to keep the bet alive and net three points for Diego Simeone’s team.
That was swiftly added to by victories for Barcelona (over Huesca) and Borussia Dortmund (against Wolfsburg) to leave six Sunday match-ups in Italy remaining.
Inter, Roma, Atlanta and Napoli ticked their boxes with relative ease early in the day to leave just two legs on the acca going into the evening kick-offs. The nerves must have been jangling as Benevento and AC Milan kicked off at 5pm, but they were swiftly eased when Franck Kessie buried a 15th minute penalty for the Rossoneri. That was added to by Rafael Leao just after half-time and there was just a single game left to land the loot.
There was no need to worry for our winner, as Juventus pummeled Udinese 4-1 at the Allianz Stadium with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (who else), Fedrerico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala to send the cash into our victor’s account.
From just a £5 stake, our customer secured a whopping pay out of £29,385 and of course, a coveted place in our Punting Hall of Fame. Not a bad start to 2021, eh?
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