after two stunning uefa champions league semi-finals, real madrid and liverpool have made it through to contest the champions league final at the nsc olimpiyskiy stadium in kiev, ukraine on saturday 26th may.
madrid, who are making their fourth final appearance in five seasons, head to the ukrainian capital as favourites. however, liverpool have done incredibly well to get this far, and they will no doubt be formidable opponents for the holders.
with our odds comparison, we’ll be taking a look at the best betting odds on various markets, giving you our top tips and predictions along the way. will zinedine zidane’s men reign supreme again, or can jurgen klopp win his first piece of silverware at the anfield club?
real madrid v liverpool: reds to dethrone the holders in ukraine’s capital
this will be the first meeting between these european heavyweights since the 2014-15 champions league group stage. karim benzema (2) and cristiano ronaldo were on the scoresheet in a 3-0 win at anfield, with benzema scoring the only goal of the game in the reverse match at the santiago bernabeu stadium.
this will be a repeat of the 1981 european cup final, which liverpool won by a goal to nil courtesy of alan kennedy’s late strike. however, los blancos have dominated this competition in recent years, winning three of the last four champions league finals.
after finishing runners-up to tottenham hotspur in group h, zidane’s men have gone on to beat the likes of paris saint-germain, juventus and bayern munich in the knockout rounds to reach the final. since barcelona were knocked out in the quarters, real have been the bookies’ favourites to lift the trophy.
klopp’s side have scored goals for fun in this season’s champions league, beating sevilla, spartak moscow and maribor to top spot in group e. porto, manchester city and roma were then shrugged off in the knockout rounds.
these sides were involved in two thrilling semi-finals. after a 2-1 win in munich, real madrid rode their luck at times on home soil in their eventual 4-3 aggregate victory over the german side. as for liverpool, they edged an astonishing 13-goal tie against roma, going on to win 7-6 on aggregate.
real madrid have all the experience in the world when it comes to champions league finals. not only have they been involved in four of the last five, no side have won the tournament more times than los merengues. having said that, only madrid (12) and ac milan (seven) have won the european cup on more occasions than liverpool (five).
as for recent form, the spanish champions have lost just one of their previous 13 matches in all competitions ahead of this weekend’s huge el clasico against rivals barcelona in la liga. however, that sole defeat did come to juventus in the quarter-finals of the champions league.
liverpool’s loss to roma on wednesday was their first european defeat of the season. it was also their first reverse in any competition since losing 2-1 to manchester united at old trafford in a premier league game back in mid-march. at the time of writing, both sides are in decent shape.
looking at our odds comparison, real are the bookies’ favourites, with pinnacle’s 24/19 being your best betting odds for the madrid win. the draw is available at 11/4 with unibet, while liverpool are priced at 20/9 (pinnacle) to win in the 90 in kiev.
these two sides love to attack, so we’re expecting a hatful of goals in this final. having defied the odds to get this far, back liverpool to come out on top (20/9 at pinnacle) in ukraine. as for the correct score, have a punt on bet365’s eye-opening betting odds of 22/1 for the reds to beat madrid 3-2 in a memorable final.