Robert Lewandowski
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Big Match Breakdown: Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

| 25.04.2018
SPORTSBOOK ODDS

Giants meet in Champions League semi-final

We’re in for a game worthy of the final when Bayern Munich face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals tonight.

One of these clubs have been in five of the last six finals. And unless Roma pull off another miracle, the winner of this tie is set to face Liverpool in Kiev.

Bayern Munich have already wrapped up the Bundesliga title, but as ever, their campaign will be judged by how they perform in Europe.

Real Madrid are 15 points behind La Liga champions Barcelona, though a record third consecutive Champions League title would render that disappointment irrelevant.

Ahead of this huge clash, the Coral News Team have all the info…

Head to Head

Real Madrid have won each of the last five games between these two superclubs. Cristiano Ronaldo has tended to be the difference during that run. The Portuguese star has nine goals in his five appearances for Madrid against Bayern.

Likely XIs

Bayern Munich v Real Madrid teams

 

Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes will be without Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman and Arturo Vidal. David Alaba’s unlikely to make it either, which means Rafinha is set to start at left-back.

Zinedine Zidane almost has a full squad to choose from. Gareth Bale could lose out if he goes with a midfield diamond, as Isco is usually favoured in the hole behind Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

Key Battles

How will Bayern stop Ronaldo? He’s tormented Bayern in the past and has a barely-believable 15 goals in the Champions League already this season.

The key will be to cut off his supply. That means the Bayern midfield will have a lot of work ahead of them. Isco, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos all have the quality to unlock any defence and need to be closed down.

Bayern will look to hurt the holders in wide areas. Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben may be coming to the end of their careers, but they’re still deadly in one-on-one situations.

They’ll also look to get James Rodriguez on the ball as much as they can against his parent club. Rodriguez will drift around the pitch to evade the attentions of Casemiro.

Match Odds

Bayern haven’t lost a game at home in any competition this season. They’re even-money to win here.

But how good are this Bayern side? They haven’t been properly tested in domestic or European competition so far this term. Real are 12/5 to leave with a first-leg lead.

The draw’s out at 11/4.

Bayern have only conceded once at home since February. It’s 10/3 that they Win to Nil and stop the visitors getting a crucial away goal.

That’ll be much easier said than done though. Zidane’s side hammered Juventus 3-0 in Italy and have scored at least twice in all but one of their European away games this term. Over 3.5 Goals is 5/4.

Ronaldo will fancy adding to his superb record against the German champions here. He’s 7/2 to bag the opener.

He isn’t the favourite to score though – that’s Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern star is 5/6 to score Anytime.

You can get Lewandowski and Ronaldo both to score at 3/1.

Big match previews, betting tips and transfer news – we’ve got it all.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing

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Author

Daniel Anwar

Daniel has written about sport for Coral, Squawka, FourFourTwo and the Premier League, among others.