UCL Odds: Napoli in Trouble vs. Real Madrid
Real Madrid (-188) vs. Napoli (+500), Draw (+333)
Real Madrid and Napoli take to the Bernabeu on Wednesday, February 15th for the first leg of the European Champions League round of 16.
After finishing first in Group B, Napoli were probably expecting an easier match-up in the round of 16. But, as luck would have it, they ended up with Real Madrid, the most successful club in world football. Real drew against Polish side Legia Warsaw in the group stages and ended up qualifying in second place behind Dortmund.
Real Madrid have had a few hiccups this season, but all considered, are still doing very well. They lead La Liga by only one point, but that’s because they’ve had three postponed matches this season. The Madridistas have played 19 games while the others have played 21.
They were unceremoniously knocked out of the Copa del Rey against tenth-place Celta Vigo, but in the grand scheme of things that shouldn’t weigh too heavily on their conscience. Same goes for their January loss to Sevilla, which ended their phenomenal 40-game unbeaten streak. Real Madrid’s stellar run had to end some time, and Zidane’s boys have bounced back remarkably well.
Napoli aren’t doing too bad either. The Italian side is currently 12 games into an unbeaten streak and only six points below Juventus in Serie A (though Juve have played one less game). That’s good enough for a second place seat in the league.
The Italians obviously do not have a roster or bank statement that can rival Real Madrid’s, but they do have a solid lineup and a system that has worked spectacularly for them. Napoli are more than comfortable letting their opponents control the game, allowing them to play aggressively against them and hitting with the counter-attack.
Whether that will be effective against Real Madrid on Wednesday remains to be seen. Los Blancos are notoriously difficult to beat at home. In La Liga, they have been unbeaten at the Bernabeu so far. Very few teams are capable of defending against the Real Madrid attack, and Napoli may find themselves a little ill-equipped to handle what Madrid has in store for them.
Pick: Real Madrid (-188)
Photo credit: “Real Madrid marcando gol” by themeplus, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
