This Tuesday and Wednesday sees the second legs of the Champions League semi finals play out where the final four sides will be reduced to just two for the final at the San Siro in Milan on May 28th. The ties could not be closer following a 0-0 draw between Man City and Real Madrid in Manchester last weekend while Atlético Madrid hold a 1-0 lead against Bayern Munich after edging the clash in the Spanish capital.
We preview both second leg games with online sportsbook WilliamHill.com to see who’ll make the Champions League final later this month.
Bayern Munich v Atlético Madrid: 1.67 – 3.60 – 5.50
Atlético were their usual tough and resilient selves in the first leg of this Champions League final four stage clash as they closed down the German champions and prevented them from scoring what would have been a vital away goal. The hosts opened the scoring through Saul Niguez with a fine individual effort and while Bayern ended the match with 75% possession and 17 chances to six for the Spaniards they could still not find a way through an Atlético defence that has not been breached in ten hours of football in all competitions. They will be hoping that home advantage will boost them in this second leg, but will it?
Both sides are rested for this match with both sides seeing a number of key players sit out their weekend matches where the Germans drew 1-1 at home to Borussia Monchengladbach to see them fail to claim the Bundesliga title while Atlético edged a tight game to win 1-0 and keep the pressure on Barcelona at the top of La Liga. As well as being rested both teams have almost fully fit sides with only Franck Ribery a doubt for Bayern but with the home side having recorded 11 clean sheets in their last 15 at the Allianz Arena and Atlético arguably the best side in Europe at closing down sides and keeping clean sheets we see this being a close and combative match that will see the away side secure their passage to the final by at least drawing this game.
Our best Bayern Munich v Atlético Madrid bet is back Atlético/Draw Double Chance @ 2.05 with William Hill.
Real Madrid v Manchester City: 1.53 – 4.00 – 6.50
For a match that was expected to see a large number of goals between two exciting attacking teams the first leg of the semi final first between the English and Spanish sides saw no goals scored and, in the first half particularly, very few chances. This was not helped by the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo did not play for Real due to injury and that City lost David Silva through injury late in the first half of the game. There is a chance that Ronaldo will be back for the home side in this second leg, but Silva is definitely out of this game. Will it provide the home side with the edge?
If Ronaldo does not play then he will once again be a massive loss to the side, but as Real have defended excellently at the Bernabeu in Europe this season with clean sheets in all five of their matches (while scoring 18 goals!) they will be confident about winning this second leg, just as the match odds suggest they will. While Silva is out for this game, the visitors to the Spanish capital are boosted by the return of Yaya Toure and they rested a number of key players, including Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero at the weekend, so will be fired up for this match.
However, with City having conceded at least one goal in each of their away games in the Champions League this season and having won just two of their last eight matches away from The Etihad in all competitions we feel that it will be the Spanish side that makes the final this Wednesday night.
Our top tip on this Real Madrid v Man City clash is back Real Madrid to win and Over 2.5 goals to be scored at odds of 2.25 in the William Hill Sportsbook!