Did you see what Messi did to Bayern?!? Ugh!
The second spot in the Champions League Final that will be held at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on June 6th will be decided at the Bernabeu this Wednesday evening as Real Madrid and Juventus go head-to-head for the second time in eight days. The first leg of this semi final tie did not go well for the Spaniards as they were beaten 2-1 by the Italian league champions at the Juventus Stadium, but they will believe that with home advantage will see them come from behind at the half way stage of this tie to progress to the showcase of UEFA’s premier club football competition.
Odds:
Online bookmaker Unibet.com believes that this is the case too as their Real Madrid v Juventus match odds suggest a reasonably comfortable victory for the Spanish side who triumphed in this competition last season with a 4-1 extra time win over their local rivals Atlético Madrid. The outright odds for this Champions League Semi Final second leg game are as follows.
Real Madrid to win – 1.65
Draw – 4.10
Juventus to win – 5.25
Team News:
Real Madrid have been boosted by the news that Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema will be available for this match having come off with a hip injury in the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend and having missed the last month with a knee injury respectively. The German midfielder tweeted “I’ve just been through the examination. Don’t worry. Let’s focus on Wednesday!” so looks to be fine for this vital clash for the reigning champions while Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has reported that French striker Benzema should be in line to take his place leading the attack for the Spaniards. Both will be welcome boosts as the side look to overcome a one goal deficit, but can they manage it?
The Italians will believe that they see off their hosts in this second leg tie as they rested players for their weekend draw at home to Cagliari following the fact that they have already secured the Serie A title. However, that 1-1 draw still saw them boosted for this match as talismanic midfielder Paul Pogba returned from two months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury and the Frenchman opened the scoring as the leaders of this tie came within five minutes of taking all three points. Will the rested side be able to claim the point they need to secure passage to their first Champions League Final since losing on penalties to AC Milan in 2003?
Form:
The home side in this Real Madrid v Juventus clash do not come into the game in the best of form as they are without a win in two matches having suffered a 2-1 loss in Turin last week before suffering a hangover from that defeat in the league at the weekend as they were held 2-2 on home soil against Valencia. The side sitting fourth in the league all but cost Real the title as they raced into a 2-0 lead after 26 minutes before, despite Cristiano Ronaldo missing an first half injury time penalty, they rescued a point with goals from Pepe and Isco with in the 56th and 84th minutes to leave them four points behind Barcelona with two games to go.
However, that draw is the first time they have dropped points in seven games as they had won the previous six in all competitions on home soil, keeping four clean sheets in this time and conceding just two goals. Will they be able to bounce back from that draw and disappointment in the league to book their place in the final against their biggest rivals Barcelona?
Juventus will certainly be the more rested of the two sides for this match having been able to take things easy over the weekend and rest players for this second leg. They will certainly be boosted by the return of Pogba and with them having responded nicely to a slow start on the road in the Champions League this season with 1-0 losses to Atlético Madrid and Olympiakos they have kept three successive clean sheets and scored five goals against Malmo, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco. Can they make it four clean sheets away from home in Europe this season to prevent a second successive all Spanish Champions League Final?
Champions League Picks:
Although the match odds suggest that we’re likely to see a home win, as Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp stated before Juventus travelled to Germany to face his side “We’re facing the greatest challenge there is in football: to play against an Italian team that only needs a draw.”. Juventus then threw convention out the window with a 3-0 win, but you can be sure that after three successive clean sheets and a rested side for this Champions League Semi Final second leg they’ll be shutting up shop.
Of course they carry plenty of attacking ability with Alvaro Morata and Carlos Tevez looking to add more goals from the first leg and Paul Pogba more than capable of adding goals from midfield so if they fail to keep a clean sheet. With the likes of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and the return of Karim Benzema all providing plenty of threat up front we feel that this match could go either way. We expect another fine defensive performance from the Italians and we see them keeping Real at bay to make the final.
Our money is on Juventus to win or the game to finish level on the Double Chance market at odds of 2.30 in the Unibet Sportsbook!