Man City v Real Madrid Betting Tips: Can City hold on to reach the last eight?
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Odds and preview for Champions League last-16 second leg
The Champions League is back with a bang as Manchester City take on Real Madrid tonight for a place in the quarter-finals.
The tie is finely poised, with City 2-1 up after their away win in the first leg way back in February.
Pep Guardiola named an unexpected line-up in the Bernabeu, even by his standards. Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling were benched, with Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva alternating as false nines. The plan paid off as City came from behind to win.
City may have a one-goal advantage, but you can never count Real Madrid out in the Champions League. The La Liga giants will be without Sergio Ramos, but they’ve been in imperious form recently – 10 wins in their last 11 outings saw them overtake Barcelona to win the title.
Man City are 7/10 favourites to win in 90 minutes, with Real Madrid at 10/3. There’s 3/1 about the draw, which would see City through.
With so much attacking quality on show, we could see plenty of goalmouth action. City to win and Both Teams to Score is 19/10, while Over 3.5 Goals is 5/4.
If this is going to head to extra-time, the visitors must win 1-2 – 14/1 says they do just that.
As for goalscorers, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling are both 4/1 favourites to open the scoring. Riyad Mahrez is 2/1 anytime, with David Silva 16/5 to score on what would be his last appearance at the Etihad in a City shirt.
Off the back of a superb campaign, Karim Benzema is 5/1 as First Goalscorer or 7/4 anytime for Madrid. Eden Hazard is 10/3 to net on his return to an English ground.
Karim Benzema has had arguably the best season of his career, while Eden Hazard will be looking to make up for lost time after a stop-start first year at the club. Zinedine Zidane has also never been knocked out of the Champions League as a manager.
Despite Madrid’s pedigree, they’ll be equally wary of the hosts. On their day, City may well be the best attacking side in Europe. They can make opposing teams dizzy with their passing patterns, while they’ve got goal threats all over the pitch.
But this season has seen them exposed at the back far too often for a team with their ambitions. Will Guardiola look to keep things tight or will he go for the kill?
Sergio Aguero is still out, which means Gabriel Jesus should get the nod up front. Oleksandr Zinchenko or Joao Cancelo will replace the suspended Benjamin Mendy at left-back.
After a disappointing league campaign, City’s season comes down to this. Can they deliver?
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
