Sports Blog 27/04/2016: UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg – Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich, Wednesday 27th April 2016

With Manchester City’s first leg against Real Madrid ending in stalemate how will their future manager Pep Guardiola fare when his Bayern Munich face Atletico at 7.45pm on BT Sport Europe?

Now 3 points away from a momentous 25th Bundesliga title, and with a DFB-Pokal final against Borussia Dortmund to look forward to at the end of May, Bayern Munich are still chasing their second ever treble when they travel to Madrid on Wednesday. Since their brief blip at the start of March Bayern have been their typically tyrannical self, winning 9 of their past 10 games in all competitions (a draw against Benfica the only blight on their otherwise perfect record), whilst scoring 24 and conceding a mere 5.

In that time Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller have both steadily added to their tallies, hitting 38 and 31 goals respectively, heading into the semi-final at Super Mega PGM spreads of 23-28 and 19-23.



Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, find themselves embroiled in a thrilling La Liga title race, one that looked like it was all over around a month ago. With Barcelona’s lead eroded over a disastrous period that saw them lose 3 La Liga games in a row AND exit the Champions League at the hands of Atletico, Diego Simone’s side now sit in 2nd place on goal difference alone. Granted, it is an insurmountable difference, Barca’s 73 not far off double Atletico’s 43; however, it still means that one more slip up from the Catalan giants might be all it takes for Atletico to recapture the title they last won in 2013/14.

One of the most promising developments in the past month and a half has been the (re)rise of club legend Fernando Torres, scoring 5 goals in his last 6 games to head into Wednesday night at a Super Mega PGM of 14-18. Similarly strong, and far more consistent, has been Antoine Griezemann, whose 29 goals (and Barca-defeating brace in the quarter-final 2nd leg) leaves him at a Super Mega PGM of 23-28.

Whilst Atletico is often seen as the weakest member of La Liga’s top trio, in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yet there has been a tenacity to Bayern in recent weeks, combined with Pep Guardiola’s desperation to win the Champions League before he heads off to Manchester, which gives the Germans the advantage. That has led our Spreadex traders to offer a Bayern Munich/Atletico Madrid Goal Supremacy spread of 0.1-0.3 with a Total Goals spread of 2-2.2.

Recent Posts: