Sports Blog 06/05/2015: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg, Barcelona vs Bayern Munich, Wednesday 6th May 2015

After Juventus managed a well-earned win over Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola will attempt to create a new legacy by visiting the grounds of his last one, as Bayern Munich travel to Barcelona at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1.

Barcelona have thoroughly answered the Christmas cries of a ‘crisis at the Nou Camp’; their 8-0 win over Cordoba at the weekend took them to 15 wins in their last 16 games, with only a 2-2 draw against Sevilla back at the start of April besmirching their record. Unsurprisingly this has left Barca at a high Champions League Index spread of 71-74, where the winner receives 100 points, the runner up 75 points and the losing semi-finalist 50.



Whilst the entire Barca team is enviable, there are three main culprits responsible for their recent rampant run: Neymar, Suarez and, of course, Messi. Luis Suarez has got 24 goals in his first season at the Nou Camp, and is at 9/2 fixed odds to score first with a Super Mega Player Goal Minutes spread of 29-25, whilst Neymar has got 33 goals and is 5/1 to score first with a Super Mega PGM spread of 25-30.

With Ronaldo nabbing an away goal for Madrid last night the Portuguese star is now joint top scorer in the Champions League this season with 9 goals, a figure Messi could overtake with 2 goals this evening on his 100th European appearance for Barcelona. This leaves Messi at 3/1 to score first with a Super Mega PGM spread of 48-56 (a prediction of the player’s total goal minutes where the 2nd goal’s minutes are doubled and the 3rd goal’s minutes are tripled, with all goals after only contributing their un-multiplied minutes).

In contrast, Bayern Munich haven’t been quite as brilliant as Barcelona of late, and sit at a Champions League Index spread of 66-69. Bayern are, of course, led by Pep Guardiola, who has 14 Barca trophies as a manager and 16 as a player and will face an interesting reception when he returns to the ground where he not only made his name, but defined a generation.



In their last 6 games, Bayern have suffered that shock 3-1 away defeat to Porto in the Champions League quarter finals (granted they did win the return leg 6-1 at the Allianz Arena), went out on penalties to Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals without scoring a single one of their spot kicks, and lost at the weekend to Bayer Leverkusen. Yet they were anointed Bundesliga champions on the 26th April after their win over Hertha Berlin, and sit unchallenged at the top of the league by 14 points.

Bayern could be without Robert Lewandowski, who will be playing in a protective mask if he does appear after breaking his nose and jaw in Bayern’s unsuccessful cup semi. His absence could add to an already damaging long term injury list that includes Arjen Robben and Frank Ribery. Regardless, Lewandowski remains at 8/1 to score first with a Super Mega PGM spread of 18-22, with Thomas Muller also on 8/1 with a Super Mega PGM spread of 17-21 and Mario Gotze on 10/1 with a Super Mega PGM spread of 11-15.

Despite the goal scoring tendencies of both teams, Spreadex are offering a modest Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9. And given that the Catalan side are in phenomenal form of late, our Spreadex traders are offering a Barcelona/Bayern Munich Goal Supremacy sports spread betting quote of 0.75-0.95, with our clients mixed on who will win.