Manchester City vs Real Madrid Betting Preview
WagerTalk soccer handicapper Kevin Dolan offers his Manchester City vs Real Madrid betting preview for Tuesday, April 26 in the UEFA Champions League semifinals. The defending Premier League champs have won all three head-to-head meetings over the Spanish giants since 2017.
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| Tuesday, April 26 | UEFA Champions League Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| Manchester City: | -210 |
| Real Madrid: | +550 |
| Draw: | +370 |
| Total: | 2.75 Goals (Odds Above Courtesy of DraftKings) |
| Game Time: | 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT |
Manchester City vs Real Madrid Analysis
Real Madrid takes on Manchester City on Tuesday night in this season’s Champions League semifinal after knocking out both PSG and Chelsea as underdogs. The soon-to-be La Liga champs hope to continue that electric run here with another surprise victory over tournament favorites Manchester City.
Manchester City knocked out fellow Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last round, but will hope for a much improved performance here if they’re to overcome a stiffer test against Real Madrid.
Full Focus From Madrid
With a 15-point cushion at the top of La Liga currently, ‘Los Blancos’ are champions in all but name, so Carlo Ancelloti can likely turn his full attention to overturning pre-tournament favorites Manchester City ahead of this round.
A large part of his gameplan will likely be centered around using in-form striker Karim Benzema as a centrepiece in this one as the French forward has scored seven goals over just his last three starts in Champions League as he continues to have one of the standout performances of this European campaign so far.
City Fighting On All Fronts
Unlike Real Madrid, who hold an almost insurmountable lead at the top of their domestic league, Manchester City has no such breathing room over in England.
With arch-nemesis Liverpool continuing to hound them domestically, as well as in Europe, it’s likely to be a razor wire finish to the domestic Premier League campaign next month.
That might well favor Real Madrid here if they can frustrate City early in this one as the ‘Cityzens’ looked uncomfortable for large parts against Brighton last week sitting at 0-0 at the half, with the crowd visibly agitated with every game a must-win for City at this point.
Manchester City was able to finally break the deadlock in the second half of that game through a Riyad Mahrez goal but it’ll nevertheless be interesting to see how they continue to deal with so much pressure moving forward, especially with them never having won this competition going up against it’s most successful team in Real Madrid.
Manchester City vs Real Madrid Prediction
We like goals in this one on Tuesday and despite Madrid’s tendency to sit off teams on the road and look to take ties back to Madrid, they likely won’t have that luxury against Manchester City in this round.
City won’t want to have to pull a Chelsea here and go to Spain looking for a result, so they will actively be looking to try and finish Real Madrid off in this leg, if possible, inside the Etihad Stadium where they’ve been incredibly strong this season, with a 3-2 shock loss to Tottenham (a game in which they outshot Spurs 21-6 in), being their only blemish at home since last October.
While Real Madrid has been getting results on the road of late also, those have come through their offense rather than their defense as only one of Madrid’s last five road games has been accompanied by a clean sheet.
Take the over 2.75 goals or the Both Teams to Score – Yes prop on Tuesday as we believe we see goals between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the first of this week’s Champions League semifinals.
Stoppage Time | April 26
Who will book their ticket to the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League and Europa League finals? Join Carmine Bianco, Kevin Dolan, Pavlos Laguretos, and Nick Borrman for Stoppage Time at 10am ET / 7am PT on Tuesday as we break down this week’s featured European matches, including Manchester City vs Real Madrid and Liverpool vs Villarreal in the Champions League, plus West Ham vs Eintracht Frankfurt and Leicester vs Roma in the Europa League.
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Meet the Author
‘The sharpest sports mind in Ireland’ is how one prominent newspaper dubbed Kevin Dolan after he became the first foreigner ever to win the World Series of Handicapping tournament back in 2015. “The Irishman” made his start wagering on GAA, football, soccer and boxing, all to immense success. Since becoming a professional bettor, he has since lit up the sports betting scene in the U.S. and abroad, winning two handicapping awards and writing a best-selling book on sports handicapping named ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Betting’.
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