Champions League: Liverpool Need a Special Night to Beat Los Blancos

Champions League: Liverpool Need a Special Night to Beat Los Blancos

Liverpool vs Real Madrid

Liverpool and Real Madrid are back in Champions League action on Wednesday for the second leg of their quarter final clash at Anfield.

Los Blancos arrive on Merseyside with a two goal advantage after winning the first leg 3-1. But Liverpool love these European nights and won’t have given up yet, particularly with an away goal which keeps them in the tie. But at SBOTOP odds of 3.56 to advance Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are underdogs for sure while Real Madrid aim to conquer Europe for the 14^th time.

The Spanish giants are at a price of 1.25 to make it to the last four and then the real business begins.

Talking Points

Trent has a big incentive  

Liverpool wing back Trent Alexander-Arnold has had a turbulent time in recent weeks, dropped by England and roasted by Real Madrid in the first leg of this tie; but in his last two Premier League performances he has looked back to his best, scoring a screamer in injury time to give Liverpool a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa and end the Reds’ six match losing streak at Anfield. And in the previous Premier League game he provided a brilliant cross for Diogo Jota to score Liverpool’s opener in a 3-0 victory over Arsenal.

Jota also scored the third goal in that win, as well as the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Wolves the previous week. His partnership with Mo Salah has given Liverpool a more potent attack as the Egyptian has continued his own scoring form, bagging the opener against Aston Villa and Liverpool’s potentially crucial away goal in Madrid.

Impressive Real Madrid are back in the La Liga race

Los Blancos come into this game on the back of an El Clasico victory over Barcelona, the perfect preparation for another huge clash against one of Europe’s top sides. Karim Benzema scored the opener and Toni Kroos doubled Real’s lead before half time and, even though Barca came back through Oscar Mingueza and hit the woodwork in injury time, Los Blancos hung on to go second in the table, a point behind Atletico Madrid who drew away to Real Betis and a point above the Blaugrana.

With eight games to go and only two points separating the three rivals it’s going to be a grandstand finish in the Primera Division, Barcelona are still favourites to win the title but Los Blancos have jumped above Atleti to become second favourites.

Benzema has bagged 19 league goals and is having a good Champions League too. The French striker has scored five in the competition while midfield ace Luka Modric is the top assist maker with three.

Our latest Champions League 2021 betting odds offer a price of 6.50 on Zinedine Zidane leading Real Madrid to his fourth Champions League as boss, and that might be worth a closer look come Wednesday night. The winner of this tie will meet either Chelsea or Porto in the semi-final, most likely the Blues who have a two goal lead to take back to Stamford Bridge. If the Portuguese side manages to overturn that against Thomas Tuchel’s in-form side it will be one of the surprise Champions League 2021 results of the year.

History

Both teams have a rich history in Europe, Real Madrid with their record 13 Champions Leagues (including European Cups) while Liverpool have six triumphs, joint third alongside FC Bayern and with only AC Milan, on seven wins, and Los Blancos ahead.

Zinedine Zidane became the first head coach to win the Champions League three times consecutively as Los Blancos dominated between 2016 and 2018, the run ended when Liverpool lifted the trophy in 2019 with a victory in the all Premier League clash with Spurs.

Real Madrid have won the last four meetings between these two teams, most recently last week when Vinicius scored twice and Marco Asensio notched the third to give the La Liga side a big advantage.

Los Blancos have scored three goals in three of the four wins over Liverpool and I expect we’ll see plenty of goalmouth action at Anfield in Wednesday. And on a winning streak of six matches in all competitions, and unbeaten in 13, Zinedine Zidane’s team is hitting form at the perfect time.

Betting Tip

Over 2.75 @ 1.79

Liverpool are at 1.98 to win this tie, with Real Madrid at 3.30 and the draw at 3.45. The hosts might well edge this leg, but to win it by a clear two goals is a huge challenge.

The Reds’ last three games have yielded over 2.5 goals while five of Real Madrid’s last six matches have hit that mark and, with a correct score of 2-1 at odds of 7.33, I think we’ll see an entertaining and nail-biting clash.

Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.

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