on tuesday night man city will hold arguably their biggest ever european game as they welcome real madrid to the etihad for the first of the champions league semi final first legs. a day later bayern munich will travel to madrid to face atletico and there are more sub-plots to these games than you’ll find in even the most complex of novels.
here we have analysis of both games, offering up the best betting odds via our odds comparison, as well as our predictions and betting tips. will we have another madrid derby in the champions league final, will pep guardiola take his current team to play the side he will be employed by next year, will the two underdogs prevail or will we have a glamour final between real and bayern?
man city v real madrid, tuesday 26th april 2016
man city v real madrid betting odds comparisonman city are in truly unchartered territory, having made the champions league quarter finals for the first time in their history before seeing off much fancied psg to make the semis. in contrast, real are looking to claim their 11th european cup and fifth champions league.
it is no surprise to see the spanish club as big favourites to make the final, priced at betting odds of just 2/5 to qualify, whilst city are way out at 9/4. our live odds comparison shows that real are firm favourites here in the first leg too, priced at betting odds of 5/4 with coral to take a lead back to madrid.
city are available at odds of 27/11, with the draw priced at 13/5 with unibet and others but we suspect the home side could yet cause an upset. the citizens are hitting decent form at the moment and having seen off psg and won three straight league games they will be full of confidence.
their return to form has coincided with the return from injury of belgian forward kevin de bruyne. his pace and trickery is creating chances and space for sergio aguero and the deadly argentine is scoring freely.
city will feel they have every chance and will be keen to keep a clean sheet at the etihad, meaning that an away goal in the champions league second leg at the bernabeu could then be crucial.
real are in good form themselves of course, and have so much experience of these big games. however, they are nowhere near as potent on the road as they are at home and as such we think betting odds of just 5/4 are far too short for cristiano ronaldo and co. the galacticos lost 2-0 at wolfsburg in the last round and another shock could be on the cards here.
our odds comparison covers a range of champions league markets and you can see that the city/draw double chance is available at best odds of 19/25 with unibet. that looks a good shout for those wanting to play it safe on tuesday night but we also like the look of man city to win 1-0.
they beat psg by that same score on home soil and a repeat here is priced at betting odds of 12/1 with betvictor, whilst a city win to nil is a safer option at shorter odds of 6/1 with coral.
this is a fascinating tie and we predict city will still be very much in the champions league hunt when the second leg in madrid comes around.
atletico madrid v bayern munich, wednesday 27th april 2016
atletico madrid v bayern munich betting odds comparisonthe second of the champions league first legs is, if you believe the bookies, similarly one-sided. bayern munich are favourites to make the final, at odds of 8/15 (compared to 13/8 with bet365 for atleti) and the germans are also favourites on the night, despite being away from home.
bayern can be backed at odds of 43/25 to win in madrid, with diego simeone’s men a shade longer at 33/17, both of those betting odds on offer at pinnacle. our live odds comparison – the quickest and easiest route to the best odds – shows bet365 have the draw at odds of 12/5 and that may not be a bad bet.
atletico caused a major upset in the last round by deservedly seeing off a well fancied barcelona side. the much vaunted catalan attacking triumvirate of neymar, lionel messi and luis suarez couldn’t get the better of simeone’s impeccably organised and motivated troops and guardiola will be fully aware of the challenge posed by madrid’s “second" team.
atleti could yet do the double of la liga and champions league and if they do it will be their astonishing, robust and determined defence that has to take much of the credit. in la liga they have conceded just 16 goals, with 20 clean sheets in 33 games. getting past that defence to register an away goal will be the task facing bayern but they know that if they get too open then the hosts have the class to hit them on the counter.
guardiola, the darling of barca and soon to be the boss of man city, may well feel that a draw in spain would be a decent result and that is why the stalemate is our main betting tip here. rather than look for an away goal, the former barcelona midfield maestro may feel that 0-0 is a decent result, confident his men can win on home soil.
that could prove a dangerous tactic given how strong atleti are on the road but no matter what, we predict this will be a game of few goals. semi final first legs are often cagey affairs and we predict this champions league clash will follow that pattern, with under 1.5 goals, shown in our odds comparison at betting odds of 39/20 with unibet, a great betting tip.