after two fascinating first legs, the uefa champions league semi-final second legs take place on tuesday and wednesday. first up, european giants real madrid and bayern munich square off at the santiago bernabeu on tuesday evening. the following night, liverpool make the trip to rome to face roma in the stadio olimpico.
it may be advantage real and liverpool, but neither tie is completely done and dusted just yet. check out our champions league preview, with the best betting odds, top tips and predictions on both semi-final second legs.
on tuesday evening, jupp heynckes bayern will be looking to overturn a narrow 2-1 deficit when they travel to madrid to play zinedine zidane’s real. the home team are fancied to win on the night and go through to yet another champions league final. however, we fancy the bavarians to make a game of it in the spanish capital.
in a high-quality and open fixture in the allianz arena last wednesday, zidane’s troops came from behind to seal a narrow win, picking up two precious away goals to boot. joshua kimmich gave fc hollywood the lead after 28 minutes, but madrid hit back through marcelo just before the break. in truth, the game could have gone either way after that, and bayern will feel they probably deserved to win. however, marco asensio capitalised on some poor defending to give los blancos a 2-1 win in germany.
real have not been at their best in la liga this term but they have grown stronger and stronger in the champions league, a competition they have dominated in recent years. with a lead and two away goals to protect, los merengues will be a very hard to nut to crack on home soil this tuesday.
the current champions league holders are now just 1/5 to qualify, while heynckes’ men are priced at 10/3 with william hill to turn this tie around. in terms of tuesday’s showdown, you can get the home win at evens, with bayern available at the tempting betting odds of 5/2 with unibet.
these two sides have played out several entertaining battles over the years, and we could be in for another memorable night on tuesday. however, those two away goals should be enough to see the holders progress to kiev to defend their crown. we can see there being goals at the bernabeu, so have a punt on betfair’s 10/1 for the 2-2 draw.
roma v liverpool: reds to fend off strong roma challenge
the second semi-final second leg takes place on wednesday as jurgen klopp’s liverpool make the trip to the italian capital to face eusebio di francesco’s roma. the reds may hold a handy three-goal lead, but i giallorossi have two away goals to hold on to.
the first leg was an incredible game of football at anfield. despite being irresistible as they raced into a 5-0 lead, liverpool will be disappointed to have shipped two late away goals to “only” win 5-2. the reds were simply magnificent for 70 minutes, with the superb mohamed salah (2), sadio mane and roberto firmino (2) putting liverpool 5-0 up at anfield. however, late roma goals by edin dzeko and diego perotti have kept this tie interesting.
the yellow and reds were 4-1 down against the mighty barcelona going into their home leg in the previous round, sealing a 3-0 win in the olimpico to knock barca out and reach the last four. a repeat result on wednesday will be enough to take them to kiev at liverpool’s expense.
that does seem unlikely, although roma head into this home game as the slight favourites (31/20 on our odds comparison) with the bookies to win on the night. however, there’s hardly anything in it, as liverpool are available at the best betting odds of 8/5 with bet365 to win in rome.
roma have the two away goals, but with the likes of salah, firmino and mane in tip-top shape for liverpool, we can see the reds scoring in rome. this should be a cracking second leg in the italian capital as roma will no doubt throw everything at liverpool, but we’re predicting klopp’s side to do more than enough. looking at the odds comparison, the 2-1 liverpool win is available at the best betting odds of 10/1, a price well worth taking advantage of.