Prediction, Odds & Betting tips for the Real Madrid vs. Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League match.
Prediction, Odds & Betting tips for the Real Madrid vs. Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League match.
Real Madrid and Manchester City had a wonderful first meeting in England, where we saw seven goals and City’s minimal victory. The show moves to Spain now and the legendary Santiago Bernabeu, where more than 80,000 spectators promise to make a memorable atmosphere. The stake is the highest possible, the title game, and there won’t be any calculations. Real has to attack to erase the deficit, and on the other side, Guardiola for sure won’t defend, because City doesn’t know how to do that.
Real Madrid
Los Blancos won the title this weekend, and they would celebrate it in the best possible way, beating Espanyol, 4-0, and having a great party in the city after that. It is good for the morale ahead of such a big event like Wednesday.
The previous five games Real played were very efficient, and all of them were with over 3.5 goals, four with both teams to score. It is a massive change from two months ago, when Ancelotti’s crew relied upon fast counter-attacks and defense.
The hosts depend a lot on Karim Benzema, who is playing maybe the best football of his life. His efficiency is unreal, and the French veteran punishes the slightest mistake made by the rivals’ defense. He already scored 14 goals in the UEFA Champions League this year, in 10 games. Overall, Benzema has 42 goals in 42 games for Real in this campaign.
Manchester City
Guardiola’s unit stabilized following a few shaky performances in late March and early April, posting four wins in a row, and scoring at least three goals in each of them. The Citizens netted 16 times in the previous four contests.
When looking only at the game played away from home, they have only one defeat over the last 15, which was against Liverpool in the FA semis. Apart from that, City posted three draws and eleven wins.
But what is very important is that in the previous ten away games, this unit kept eight clean sheets, meaning that the defensive part of the lineup does an excellent job.
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Marcelo; Kroos, Camavinga, Modric; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Junior
Manchester City: Ederson; Stones, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
The first game at Etihad ended 4-3, for the hosts. They were up 2-0 and 4-2, and each time, Real managed to come back. That was the fourth head-to-head game in a row in which we saw over 2.5 goals and hits on both ends.
Real is in a position to chase the result, meaning that they should be aggressive more than usual. On the other side, City is more relaxed away from home because they don’t have to face bunkers and tough defenses. This is an ideal game for over 2.5 goals which would be our final pick.
Our verdict: Over 2.5 goals