The second leg of the Uefa Champions League play off between Real Madrid and Manchester City takes place on Wednesday night and Real hold a 3-2 advantage
Prices below from Sportingbet are correct at the time of writing but subject to change
Real Madrid
Real came back late to win the first leg 3-2 in Manchester last week. They were 1-0 and 2-1 down before an 86th minute equalizer from Brahim Diaz and a 92 minute winner from Jude Bellingham. Mbappe had scored Real's first equalizer on the hour mark after City had gone into half time 1-0 up.
Real Madrid won their last 3 matches of the league phase to finish up 11th with a record of 5 wins and 3 defeats. They started with home wins over Stuttgart (3-1) and Dortmund (5-2) either side of a 1-0 defeat at Lille. Back to back losses at home to Ac Milan (3-1) and away at Liverpool (2-0) had the alarm bells ringing but they recovered with wins away to Atalanta (3-2), at home to Salzburg (5-1) and finally away at Brest (3-0)
Real were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in La Liga at the weekend and they slipped to second in the standings, behind Barca on goal difference and 1 point clear of Atletico who are third.
Man City
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City in the 19th minute of the first leg and he restored the lead from the penalty spot on 80 minutes before Real fought back.
City's 3-1 home win over Club Brugge in the final round of the league phase saw them finish 22nd in the standings of the league phase. Their defeats came at PSG and (4-2) Sporting (4-1) and they also lost at Juve (2-0) whilst a 3-3 draw at home to Feyenoord saw them let a 3-0 lead slip. City had started with a 0-0 draw at home to Inter and comfortable wins in Bratislava (4-0) and at home to Prague (5-0).
City were 4-0 winners at home to Newcastle at the weekend and they are currently fourth in the EPL but all of 16 points behind Liverpool. They are still involved in the FA Cup and if they exit the UCL here that competition will be their best hope of a trophy this season.
The Betting
Real are currently 9/10 to win the first leg with the draw at 32/10 and City are 5/2
It's 1 / 3 for both teams to score and 3/10 for over 2.5 total match goals
*Regulation time markets.
The Verdict:
City have developed a habit of conceding goals in 2's and 3's late on in UCL games this season and face an uphill task. They should feel obliged to throw the kitchen sink at this one at some stage of the second leg but tactics will dictate how early that will happen and and it will be interesting to see if Marmoush, who scored a hat trick against Newcastle, starts the game.
I'll take my chances with a draw at half time.
Bet: Half time result draw at 15/10 with Sportingbet
Note, prices quoted are subject to change
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