As the 2015/16 season edges towards May, it’s the business end of the Champions League and there are two cracking games to look forward to. Manchester City host Real Madrid in the first leg of their semi-final on Tuesday and that’s followed by Bayern Munich’s trip to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, has confirmed he will be without the services of Yaya Tour in midfield for their match against Real Madrid. The visitors meanwhile, are sweating on the fitness of Cristiano Ronaldo and this has become an even bigger concern for Zinedine Zidane, with striker Karim Benzema, almost certain to miss out. Zidane will also want to see Daniel Carvajal make a return to fitness, with the other option at right-back, Danilo, being less than convincing this season.
This will be uncharted territory for Manchester City, who moved in to the semi-finals with a win over PSG in the last round. Pellegrini knows his team will need to take some kind of lead to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg and will want to get on the front foot early on. However, they can not afford Real too much space coming forward and it’s going to be difficult for the home team to find the right balance. If Cristiano Ronaldo is passed fit, he and Gareth Bale will pose a huge threat to a Manchester City defence, which has struggled at times this season. That being said, Manchester City have been in good goal scoring form themselves and both teams to score is on offer at 8/15 with Bet365. Furthermore, with plenty of goal mouth incident expected, the 2-2 draw can be backed at 13/1 with BetVictor. Kevin De Bruyne scored in both legs of the quarter-final for Manchester City and the Belgian can be backed at 8/1 with Bet365, to score the first goal.
If goals are the order of the day at the Etihad Stadium, the same can not be said for the match at the Vicente Calderon, between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich. Atletico’s solid defence was the basis for their victory over Barcelona in the quarter-final but the big news is the absence of key defender, Diego Godin, due to injury. The Uruguayan joins Tiago on the sidelines. For Bayern, Pep Guardiola is without Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Arjen Robben, with Kingsley Coman a doubt.
Despite the loss of Godin, Diego Simeone’s team will remain compact and difficult to break down, something which Bayern Munich will find frustrating. At home under Simeone in the Champions League, Atletico have only lost once in 16 matches and this highlights how difficult they are to play against. Bayern have not travelled well in the Champions League of late, and have only won twice on the road in their last 9 attempts. However, the goal scoring prowess of Bayern Munich in the Champions League can not be denied and they will be looking for that crucial away goal. Atletico will be hoping the German champions leave themselves exposed at the back, so they can pick them off.
You write Atletico Madrid off at your peril, whoever they may be playing and the 2/1 for them to win the match with Bet365 is tempting. The last thing Simeone will want, is for his team to be chasing the game in the second leg and even if they head to the Allianz Arena with a 0-0 from the first leg, he will not be disappointed. Under 2.5 goals is on offer at 13/10 with StanJames but with Godin missing and the fantastic array of attacking talent on show, Bayern are more than capable of grabbing an away goal. The 1-1 draw is available at 5/1 with SkyBet.
Both Champions League semi-finals are difficult to call and there will not be much between them after these first legs. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, may be the teams who head in to the second leg with the slight advantage.
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