Three Betfair punters landed more than £8,000 between them in the space of 48 hours thanks to a trio of outstanding multiple bets.
Much of the heavy lifting was done on Sunday, when one punter won more than £3,000 with a four-fold that backed a team to win with both teams to score.
Another, meanwhile, scooped £2,256 for backing four players to be booked in their respective games.
It got even better on Tuesday evening, when a third punter predicted Arminia Bielefeld’s stunning German Cup upset victory over reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.
Sunday Fun Day
With so many moving parts and things that can go wrong, the ‘team to win and both teams to score’ coupon isn’t the easiest to get right.
One Betfair punter took a gamble, in every sense of the word, by backing Manchester City to defeat a dangerous Bournemouth side in the FA Cup.
It didn’t look good when the Cherries took a 0-1 half-time lead, but Pep Guardiola’s masterstroke to bring on Omar Marmoush and Nico O’Reilly paid dividends, with the former netting the winner and the latter assisting twice in the 2-1 comeback victory.
Our punter experienced similar strife elsewhere. Real Betis, another side they had backed, also went a goal down to Sevilla, but eventually rallied to win 2-1.
Dortmund were home and hosed with a 3-0 cushion with about 20 minutes to play, so our punter would have been delighted when visitors Mainz clinched little more than a consolation goal in the 76th minute.
And there was a similar theme at the San Siro, where Inter Milan romped into an early 2-0 lead before Udinese managed to conjure up a reply.
All of which made the punter in question particularly chipper; their four-fold landing a prize of £3,280.
Bookings Galore
While all of the drama was unfolding, another Betfair customer was banking a handsome payday of their own courtesy of a four-fold acca.
They had decided to back four players to be carded in their respective games; presumably having studied the stats and uncovered a quartet that make plenty of tackles who were to be officiated by card-happy referees.
Tasked with anchoring Bournemouth’s midfield – and no stranger to a tackle to two, Ryan Christie was cautioned in the 62nd minute against Man City.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola had sprung a surprise by naming young Abdukodir Khusanov in the centre of his defence. And the Uzbekistani, who has struggled to adapt to the pace of English football, was shown the yellow card after bringing down the lively Evanilson.
Ironically, Khusanov was replaced by O’Reilly at half time… he opened the door to the other Betfair customer winning big with an epic second-half showing.
Two down, two to go. Attention now turned to the Spanish La Liga and the contest between Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna, with the latter’s defender Alejandro Catena the man in the spotlight. And he duly obliged on the stroke of half-time, picking up his ninth booking of an ill-disciplined campaign.
Last up was Mallorca’s combative midfielder Samu, who committed four fouls before finally being cautioned in the 76th minute against Valencia.
While Samu was furious with his booking, our punter was delighted – they had just secured a payout of some £2,256.
Up for the Cup
Who doesn’t love a giantkilling story in football… Arminia Bielefeld, of Germany’s third tier, have been the kings of the cupset this season by beating three Bundesliga teams on their way to the semi-final of the DFB Pokal.
But their opponents in the final four were a different breed altogether, with Bayer Leverkusen – the reigning German Bundesliga champions – standing between and the unlikeliest cup final appearance.
That didn’t deter one plucky Betfair punter, mind you. They backed Arminia Bielefeld to win and have the most corners, while taking Leverkusen to be shown the most cards as part of a Bet Builder treble.
And what unfolded was nothing short of a footballing miracle story. Jonathan Tah gave Leverkusen an early lead, but Arminia – a 16/1 outsider before the off – equalised after 20 minutes.
The underdogs then went 2-1 up before half-time, and as Leverkusen’s players began to be frustrated by their lower league opponents, they started to rack up the yellow cards – taking a 3-0 lead in that department.
In fact, the card count was just as dramatic as the pursuit of victory, as Arminia – trying to break up their opponents’ attacking flow – picked up three yellow cards in the space of nine minutes.
But as they held out for a famous win, Leverkusen’s frustrations boiled over and two more of their players were booked.
As for the corner count… Arminia had ‘won’ that particular duel 7-6.
And so our punter, who had placed a £5 on these most unexpected of outcomes, ended Tuesday a cool £2,505 than they had started it.