the draw for the semi-finals of the uefa champions league has taken place, with liverpool and roma squaring off, while bayern munich face real madrid. the first leg between liverpool and roma is at anfield on april 24th, with the second leg in rome eight days later. reds fans will be delighted with the draw but will know they have to take a lead to rome.
bayern are at home in their first leg on wednesday 25th, before making the trip to the spanish capital to play real in madrid on tuesday 1st may. they too will be desperate for a win on home soil, whilst madrid will be hoping for an away goal or two.
with our live odds comparison, best betting odds and top tips, we will be previewing both semi-finals, as well as taking a look at the outright winner odds. will bayern stop madrid’s dominance? can liverpool see off a dogged roma side? find out what we think in our in-depth champions league preview below.
liverpool v roma: reds to edge encounter at anfield
jurgen klopp’s liverpool begin their semi-final at anfield against eusebio di francesco’s roma. before a ball has been kicked in anger in the last four, the reds are the bookies’ favourites to make it through to may’s final in the nsc olimpiyskiy stadium in kiev. however, after watching the italian side battle back from a 4-1 deficit against the mighty barcelona in the previous round, roma could be a force to be reckoned with over the two legs.
after finishing top of group e ahead of the likes of sevilla, spartak moscow and maribor, the reds eased past porto in the round of 16 to reach the last eight. in the quarters-finals, klopp’s side were drawn against premier league rivals manchester city. after a stunning 3-0 win at anfield, liverpool beat pep guardiola’s city 2-1 at the etihad stadium to progress to the last four with an eye-opening 5-1 aggregate victory.
as for roma, they did an excellent job to pip the likes of chelsea and atletico madrid to first place in their group. i giallorossi then overcome a tricky two-legged last 16 tie against ukrainian side shakhtar donetsk on away goals. however, what roma did to barcelona in the quarter-finals was nothing short of extraordinary. despite losing the first leg 4-1 in the camp nou, di francesco’s side secured a memorable 3-0 win in rome to book their place in the semis.
in spite of roma’s heroics against barca, liverpool head into the first game at anfield as the strong favourites to come out on top. ladbrokes are offering odds of just 6/10 for the home win, while the draw is available at 67/19 with pinnacle. meanwhile, you can get roma at the tempting betting odds of 21/4 (unibet).
this has the potential to be a tough fixture for both sides, but liverpool will be looking to take an advantage to the italian capital. looking at the odds comparison, we feel there’s good value in betvictor’s 8/1 for a 2-1 reds triumph.
jupp heynckes’ bayern entertain zinedine zidane’s real madrid in what promises to be a thrilling first leg in the allianz arena. these two european giants are regulars at this stage of europe’s elite competition, but can one of these take a lead to the santiago bernabeu? the bavarians head in as slight favourites to win on the night, but madrid are fancied to prevail overall.
after finishing runners-up to paris saint-germain in group b, fc hollywood thumped turkish side besiktas 8-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals. although things were not quite as straightforward for the german champions in the semis, a 2-1 win in seville followed by a goalless draw in munich put bayern through to the last four at sevilla’s expense.
real madrid have had a very strange tournament so far. at times, los blancos have looked world beaters, while at others they have ridden their luck. after an outstanding 3-0 win over juventus in turin in the first leg of their quarter-final, real needed a controversial, last-gasp penalty in madrid to progress with an 4-3 aggregate victory over the old lady.
on paper, there’s not an awful lot to split these two european heavyweights. bayern are priced at best betting odds of 6/5 to go through, whereas real are available at 4/5 (ladbrokes). however, you can get the bavarians at 23/20 to win on the night, while the best odds available on los merengues to prevail in munich are 5/2 with coral.
having said all that, we predict there’s a strong possibly that this first leg will end all square in germany. neither side will want to give too much away and both will be hoping to stay in the tie heading into the second leg in the spanish capital. with that in mind, take a punt on the strong betting odds of 67/25 at pinnacle for the first leg between bayern and real to end in a draw.
even though real madrid square off against bayern, zidane’s troops are the bookies’ favourites to retain their crown this year, with betfair offering odds of 21/10. then come bayern and liverpool, who are both priced at 23/10. after shocking barcelona in the previous round, italian side roma are available at the tempting betting odds of 9/1.
however, liverpool have been superb in this year’s champions league, scoring goals for fun all tournament long. getting past roma will be a task in itself, but if the reds can come through that test unscathed, we predict they might just be able to lift the champions league trophy for the time since that famous night in istanbul 13 years ago.