Come the end of Wednesday evening this week, we will know our Champions League finalists for 2015/16 and there could be some very familiar names taking their place at the San Siro. The first of the semi-finals to be complete, will be the match between Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.
Atletico Madrid produced a display typical of their season in the first leg. Well organised, determined and with that little bit of quality going forward, to score the vital goal. A 1-0 lead going in to an away leg of a Champions League semi-final is great for the away team and Diego Simeone knows that an away goal will make things difficult for Bayern. However, Atletico Madrid will need to be at their defensive best, if they are to keep out the attacking threat of Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena.
Coming in to the home leg of a European tie with a deficit to make up is nothing new for Bayern Munich and they have managed to come from behind in five of the last seven ties, in which they lost the first leg 1-0. However, Atletico Madrid have won the last 15 European ties in a row, where they have gone in to the second leg with a lead.
Bayern are sure to dominate possession again, with Atletico looking to hit them on the break. Backing Atletico is where the value is for this game, with an away win priced at 6/1 with Bet365. If Atletico are their usual, compact selves, Bayern will need to throw everything at them in the latter stages of the game, leaving themselves open for the counter-attack. A more realistic score-line perhaps would be 1-1, with Bayern likely to score once in-front of their own fans and this can be backed at 15/2 with PaddyPower. Although games tend to open up in the second leg of European ties, under 2.5 goals is still a distinct possibility here and is available at 3/4 with BetVictor.
The second semi-final on Wednesday, features Real Madrid and Manchester City, who have both been trying to look on last week’s 0-0 at the Etihad, as a positive result. In truth, neither team played well but Real Madrid had the better chances.
The statistics all point towards a Real Madrid win in the second leg. In their five home matches in the Champions League this season, Real Madrid have scored 17 goals, without reply and they overturned a 2-0 deficit against Wolfsburg in the previous round, by winning 3-0. To further enhance Real Madrid’s chances, Ronaldo is back in training and looks set to play in the match, which will make a big difference, both in terms of Real Madrid’s ability to score goals but also the psychological impact it will have on Manchester City. Ronaldo is 3/1 with PaddyPower to score the first goal of the game.
The first leg didn’t have any goals but this could be the complete opposite, with Real Madrid not afraid to attack at home and leave themselves open at the back. Over 2.5 goals can be backed at 4/6 with Bet365. Manchester City have the creative talent to take advantage of any space Real Madrid afford them but defensively, they will struggle to keep their hosts at bay. Real Madrid to win and both teams to score is on offer at 23/10 with BetVictor.
Looking ahead to the final in Milan and considering our thoughts above, it looks as though another all-Madrid final could be on the cards and PaddyPower offer 6/4 for that to happen.
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