Real Madrid v Barcelona Champions League Preview
Real Madrid and Barcelona square off at the Bernabeu on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. It’s another close line for these two sides with Real Madrid as the short favourites. The second leg will be played at the Nou Camp and Barca are the favourites to advance to a matchup with either Schalke or Manchester United.
Real won 1-0 last week in the Copa Del Rey final and drew 1-1 in the La Liga. It’s a big improvement over their 5-0 loss to Barca in league play from November. The Copa Del Rey win was their first win over their archrivals since 2008. Real manager Jose Mourinho could become the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs.
Each of the last three meetings between these sides have resulted in a red card. It’s always a hotly contested match between the clubs and you can back a player to be sent of with 6/4 odds at SkyBet.
Sami Khedira is out with an injury and Ricardo Carvalho is out on suspension for Real. Adriano, Maxwell and Eric Abidal are out for Barca, but Gabriel Milito and Carles Puyol should play. Even though defensive selections are thin for the Champions League joint-leading scorers at 24 goals per side, they have resulted in low-scoring affair recently. Only one of Barca’s last six away fixtures went over 2.5 goals.
Barca are eight points ahead of Real in La Liga thanks to David Villa ending his scoring drought in the win over Osasuna. Real rested some key players as well in their win over Valencia. The pressure will be on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo this week. You can back Ronaldo and Messi both to score with 7/2 odds at SkyBet. Messi has 50 goals on the season, including nine in Europe. He can backed to score first with 4/1 odds at SkyBet. Ronaldo has 38 scores on the season, including six in the Champions League. He has four goals his last four times out, including two against Barca. He also has 4/1 odds to score first at Skybet.
Barca have six losses in 11 Champions League semi-finals, which gives the edge to Real on their home pitch, but the draw looks to be a safer bet in this one.
Real Madrid v Barcelona Match Odds (supplied by SkyBet)
Real Madrid: 13/8
Draw: 11/5
Barcelona: 7/4