Real Madrid host Manchester City in what should be a thrilling Champions League 2nd leg semi-final encounter on Wednesday night. We take a look at the game from a betting angle.
Let’s start with a look at the Outright Betting where going into the semi-finals Liverpool are the 9/10 favourites with Manchester City 12/10, Real Madrid 10/1 and Villarreal 50/1. This betting will be updated after the Villarreal v Liverpool match and you can click here for all of the long term markets.
In the 1st leg we backed Manchester City to win by exactly 1 goal and while we collected we certainly did not expect the 4-3 score line. Under the old away goals rule Real Madrid would have been well placed given those 3 goals, but as it stands all that’s important is that Manchester City carry a 1 goal advantage into the 2nd leg.
Real Madrid had previously overcome Chelsea in the quarter-finals requiring extra time to see off the English team and in their last 16 match they beat PSG 3-2 on aggregate coming from a 1st leg loss on the road to win 3-1 at home to secure the tie. They won 2 and lost 1 of their home matches in the group stages and looking at Real Madrid’s recent form they warmed up with an emphatic 4-0 victory at home to Espanyol on the weekend and they continue to be runaway leaders of the La Liga.
Manchester City led by 2 goals three times in the home leg and they will be disappointed that they let Real Madrid back into the tie. They had previously edged Atletico Madrid 1-0 on aggregate in a tight quarter-final clash and in their last 16 match they beat Sporting 5-0 on aggregate doing the business with a convincing 5-0 win on the road in the first leg.
Manchester City’s away form was a bit shaky in the group stages with 2 defeats and 1 victory and in the League they held on to their narrow advantage over Liverpool with a comfortable 4-0 victory at Leeds on the weekend.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Real Madrid 9/4
Draw 29/10
Manchester City 11/10
Suggested bet: Real Madrid win at 9/4
I was impressed by what I saw of Real Madrid in the first leg and I think they have the ability to rock Manchester City at home. The bookmakers are expecting goals in this game with both teams to score, yes, priced at 5/10, over 2.5 goals also at 5/10 and I would be very surprised if we don’t get 3 or 4 goals in the game. For my correct score prediction I will go with Real Madrid 2-1 at 9/1 and to open the scoring I can’t look past Karim Benzema at 4/1.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
