Sports Blog 13/05/2015: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg, Real Madrid vs Juventus, Wednesday 13th May 2015

With a Neymar brace ensuring Barcelona reached the Champions League final, fans will find out whether or not they are in for a first-ever El Clasico European Cup final as Real Madrid host Juventus at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1.

Despite losing the first leg 2-1, Real Madrid are going into this second leg with a higher Champions League Index spread than Juventus, at 68-71 compared to 64-67 for the Turin side. With an all-important away goal in the bag, Real will be confident that they can overturn Juve’s slender lead at the Bernabeu, especially since the Madrid side have scored in their last 52 home games.



Ancelotti’s men will also be going into the game knowing that realistically it is their last chance of a title this season. A draw at Valencia at the weekend has damaged their chances of winning La Liga, with defender Dani Carvajal admitting it may well be beyond them now, unless Barcelona have a nightmare in their final 2 games. Yet it would be a fair consolation for Real if they could retain the Champions League title against their fierce rivals, and this may well add a bit of extra fire to the bellies of Ronaldo and co.

However much like Bayern Munich yesterday, it would be unwise to ignore the non-Spanish semi-finalist, with Juve, like Bayern, the unchallenged champions of their league. And whilst Bayern couldn’t do enough last night, Juventus are starting in a much better position than the German side and know that they will go through if they can suffocate Madrid and prevent them from scoring, however tough that may be. Juventus will also have the big boost of (the potentially departing) Paul Pogba, who returned from 2 months on the side-lines on Saturday to score against Cagliari at the weekend.

For their part, Real Madrid will see the return of Karim Benzema, who is at 11/2 to score first, whilst quarter final hero Javier Hernandez is at 5/1, both with a Super Mega PGM spread of 21-25. And with Messi overtaking him as this season’s top scorer in the tournament, Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed an important penalty at the weekend but did grab the away goal in Turin, is at 13/5 with a Super Mega Player Goal Minutes spread of 61-71.



Whilst Juventus may not have the star-filled firepower of Real Madrid, they nevertheless have a strong front line. Carlos Tevez, whose second half penalty gave Juve the edge in the first leg, has a Super Mega PGM spread of 17-21 and is at 7/1 to score first, whilst Alvaro Morata, who nabbed an early goal to put Juve in the lead in Turin, is at 10/1 and a Super Mega PGM spread of 9-12 (with Llorente, Pogba and Vidal also all on the same spread).

Last Tuesday’s game was somewhat of a testy affair, with the 7 yellow cards dished out leading Spreadex to offer a Bookings spread of 62-66 for tonight’s match, a favourite of our clients. And given the regularity of Madrid finding the back of the net at home combined with Juve’s noted stinginess, our traders are offering a mid-to-high Total Goals spread of 2.75-2.95.

Despite losing the first leg, Madrid look formidable at home and may well sneak into the final on the back of their away goal; this has led to heavy support from our clients for Spreadex’s Real Madrid/Juventus Goal Supremacy sports spread betting quote of 0.9-1.1.