Big Match Breakdown: Real Madrid v Juventus
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Odds and preview ahead of the UCL tie
Real Madrid host Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League Quarter-Final at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight.
The Italian champions have the almost-impossible task of overturning a three-goal deficit after capitulating in the first leg in Turin last week.
Juve will need to take inspiration from Roma’s incredible performance last night. The Giallorossi incredibly beat Barcelona 3-0 to knock the La Liga giants out on away goals.
However, the Old Lady will have a far stiffer task in the Spanish capital this evening. The Coral News Team go in-depth into the game with our Big Match Breakdown…
Head-to-Head
These two European giants have met an incredible 15 times in the Champions League since 1996. Real have won seven times, with Juve racking up six wins against Los Blancos.
However, the Bianconeri have won just once at the Bernabeu in that time – a 2-0 victory back in 2008.
Real have won the last two games between the pair including a hugely impressive 3-0 win at the Juventus Stadium last week.
Likely XIs
Zinedine Zidane has issues when it comes to his backline. The Real head coach will be without Sergio Ramos due to suspension.
Nacho and Jesus Vallejo are also significant injury doubts which means Casemiro may have to play at centre-back. The rest of the starting XI should remain the same.
For Juve, Paulo Dybala and Rodrigo Bentancur are absent through suspension. However, Miralem Pjanic and Mehdi Benatia are back in contention after bans.
Mario Mandzukic, Juan Cuadrado, and Douglas Costa compete for a place on the wings alongside Gonzalo Higuain up front.
Key Battles
The question for Max Allegri is how does he stop Cristiano Ronaldo? The World Player of the Year is on-fire at the minute with 24 goals in his last 13 games.
That’s not to mention to Portuguese striker’s spectacular overhead kick in last week’s first leg – one of the all-time great goals.
Juve’s normally stingy defence has been breached seven times in the last two games against Real. They just can’t seem to stop Los Galacticos from scoring.
If the Bianconeri can manage to stifle the Real attack and get about Luka Modric in midfield, then they may have a chance.
Football is a funny game. And nearly anything can happen. But there’s no point in pretending like the 3-0 lead Real enjoy isn’t almost insurmountable.
Match Odds
Real Madrid are 8/13 for the win this evening, with Juventus outsiders at 21/5. The draw is available at 16/5.
As you saw with Manchester City v Liverpool last night – it only takes one goal for the side with all the motivation to fall apart.
Should Real find the net first, it could get messy. But goals should be expected either way. Over 2.5 is 4/7. While Over 3.5 is available at 7/5. Both Teams To Score is 8/13.
Ronaldo scored the first two goals of last week’s first leg. And he also managed two against the Old Lady in last year’s final.
The former Manchester United striker is 12/5 to be First Goalscorer and 5/2 to score two or more.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
