Champions League Betting – City in Tough at Madrid

Manchester City (+459) at Real Madrid (-189), Draw (+330)

Manchester City (6-2-3 in the 2016 Champions League) are one step away from reaching their first-ever UCL final. But that step is more like a giant leap since they’ll be facing Real Madrid (8-1-2) at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, needing at least a 1-1 draw to advance.

Following last week’s 0-0 result in the first leg in Manchester, City and Real will meet in Madrid for the second leg of their semifinal matchup today at 2:45 PM Eastern.

As if City’s inexperience at this stage wasn’t a big enough hurdle on its own, the team will be facing the most successful club in UCL history. Real have ten titles to their name, and this year’s squad looks as strong as ever, winning all six of its home games by a combined score of 18-0.

Man City would have been well served to win at home. They had the benefit of facing a severely depleted Madrid squad, which was missing not only leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo (leg), but also second-leading scorer Karim Benzema (thigh).

Benzema remains on the sideline, along with midfielder Casemiro (hip), but Ronaldo – who leads the UCL with 16 goals – will be back in action.

The problem with betting City over Madrid is the Citizens lack a playmaker that can take over in the clutch like Real have in Ronaldo. Even if he’s not 100-percent fit, Ronaldo is too good to be kept quiet in such an important game. Expect him to score and Madrid to keep their perfect home record intact.

Pick: Real Madrid (-189). 

(Photo credit: RCuerda29 (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode].)