It's another huge match tonight with the 2nd leg of the 2nd Champions League Semi-finals to come as Juventus protect a 2.1 advantage over Real Madrid from the first leg in Turin last week. With Real the defending champions and needing a win, we should be in for a titanic struggle between 2 of European footballs heavyweights. Here's the preview, prediction and best bets for a big game in Spain. 20.45 - Real Madrid v Juventus - Prediction 2.1 - Best Bets - see bottom of page
Coverage begins @2000 CET on Sky Sports 1 What a huge match we have here as the Old Lady of Italian football Juventus travel to Madrid tonight knowing that if they avoid defeat they will be back in the Champions League final for the first time in over a decade while for Real, the stakes couldn't be any higher as they look to continue their defence of the trophy won so dramatically last year. With the La Liga crown virtually gone, the prospect of a showdown with Barcelona makes defeat almost unthinkable for the current champions who need to win on the night to make it happen and with Real looking to be the first team to retain the trophy under it's current guise, this surely would be one of, if not the biggest final in the competitions history. Still, Juventus will not be coming to Madrid for a shake down or a belly tickle and I expect a ding dong contest iin the Bernabeu this evening with both sides hugely determined to book their ticket for Berlin on June 6th. The popular belief seems to be that Real will get the job done tonight, perhaps because of the narrative and of course because of their name and the bookies seem to agree, pricing Real as clear favourites to qualify at 3/4 with the visitors 11/10 to get the job done but I'm not so sure that it's going to be an all Spanish final next months. Real have an away goal but Juve are a tough side to beat and when they want to they know how to shut up shop like the great Italian sides of yesteryear and while you would expect Real to score at least once, I do expect the Italians to find the back of the net as well with this tie likely to be fairly open given Real's attacking nature. In a match such as this, stats, form and history can go out of the window and I feel the best approach is to go with my gut on this game and I fancy Juve to qualify but it might take more than 90 minutes to get the job done and while my heart might prefer an all Spanish final, I do feel that it might just be Juve's night as they are a hard team to beat, especially by more than 1 goal although a 1.0 scoreline would be enough for Real. Real are still missing Luka Modric while Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos face late fitness tests to decide their availability while Juventus welcomed back their talisman Paul Pogba at the weekend and the Frenchman duly delivered a goal. His presence in Juve's team will be significang alongside grandpa Pirlo. I'm struggling to pick a clear winner though, even if my head was telling me Juventus for the past week but it does look like a toin coss game so perhaps BTTS is the more realistic option for the night, and I'm backing it at 4/5 odds with BTTS and over 2.5 also a possibility @6/5. Ronaldo is 5/6 to score at anytime and you have to back the great man who seems to score on almost all of the big occasions for Real while Tevez is 15/8 to score for Juventus. Initially I was leaning towards a 1.1 draw but I have a feeling Real might just nick this 2.1 and force extra time but It really is a hard match to predict either way and I feel the BTTS @4/5 represents the best value on the night although I do have a feeling that the men from Turin will be the ones celebrating at the end of this explosive fixture even if it does require an additional 30 minutes or even the dreaded penalties. Bo's Best Bets Both teams to score @4/5 Juventus to qualify @11/10 BTTS and over 2.5 goals @6/5 Ronaldo to score anytime @5/6 Bo's Bonkers Bets Real Madrid 2 v 1 Juventus @ 7/1 Juventus to win on penalties @ 33/1 Comments are closed.
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