Manchester City vs. Real Madrid: Preview and betting tips

The first match of the Champions League semi-finals brings Manchester City, who welcome Real Madrid to their home ground. It will be a duel between a team that has long had ambitions to win the Eared Cup, but has never won it in its history, and the record holder in the number of trophies won in the competition. What to expect from the match and what to bet on?

Manchester City have not conceded a single goal in the knockout stages so far. They knocked out Sporting in the semi-finals after 5-0 and 0-0. In the quarter-finals, it managed to knock out Atletico Madrid, beating them 1: 0, and the subsequent match ended in another goalless draw.

As far as domestic competition is concerned, Manchester City is still in first place in the English Premier League with a slight lead over second-placed Liverpool. At the weekend Manchester City players enjoyed a match against Watford in which they won 5:1. Gabriel Jesus scored 4 goals and Rodri added one.

Real Madrid had a much more difficult road to the semi-finals. In the eighth round they played PSG. They lost the first leg 0:1, and in the second leg they also lost, but Karim Benzema stepped up and scored three goals to put Real into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3:2 aggregate score.

Here Real Madrid faced Chelsea of England, whom they managed to beat 3-1 away. However, in the rematch at home, they lost 1: 3, and the game went into extra time. Benzema scored again in the 30 minutes that sent his team to the semi-finals.

Like Manchester City, Real Madrid are leading their domestic competition. However, they have a huge lead in La Liga, with second-placed Barcelona 15 points behind, so the title is almost certain in Madrid.

As far as statistics are concerned, Manchester City has not lost against Spanish teams at home in their last five matches. In these matches they won four times and lost once. In one of these matches, they beat Real and that was in 2020 with a 2-1 result.

By winning against Chelsea, Real Madrid improved their unpleasant statistics against teams from England when looking at away games. Before that, under Carlo Ancelotti, they had drawn once and lost twice in the islands.

The mutual record between Manchester City and Real Madrid has no winners. In the six matches so far, each team has won twice and drawn twice. However, Real have never won at Manchester City’s ground and have only drawn once.

The statistics speak more in favour of the home team, who will enter the match as a big favourite. Real Madrid has been unable to keep a clean sheet in recent matches, mainly due to the absence of David Alaba and Casemiro. So we expect that they will not keep a clean sheet again.

On the other hand, Real Madrid have a lot of strength in attack. Karim Benzema shines in big games. He scored a hat-trick against Paris Saint-Germain and also scored against Chelsea. He could also make a name for himself at Manchester City.

We can expect Manchester City to fall short in front of their home fans again. They will win against Real Madrid in the first semi-final match, but it will not be a clear-cut victory.