Sports Blog 14/04/2015: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League 2015 Quarter Final First Legs, Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th April 2015

It is Champions League time once again, and with all the remaining English sides being unceremoniously dumped out in the last 16, all 8 of the quarter finalists can be found on the continent.

First up on Tuesday is a recreation of last year’s final, with Atletico Madrid hosting Real Madrid at 7.45pm on ITV. Atletico are sitting at 3rd in La Liga, 7 points behind their Madrid rivals. However, Real have failed to beat Atletico in ‘normal time’ in 8 games, and a victory tonight for the traditionally smaller Madrid side would take their unbeaten run against Real to 7 games. Atletico only just managed to get through to the quarter finals, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on penalties, but won’t be cowed by their bigger Madrid brother. They will be buoyed by the return of Mario Mandzukic, at 11/2 to score first, who has worked wonders in front of goal for Atletico this season; he is joined by Antoine Griezmann, also at 11/2, and Raul Garcia at 15/2.



Real Madrid, on the other hand, are 2 points behind league leaders Barcelona and will be frustrated by the way their season has gone since the New Year. Three losses in the first half of the season, all incidentally in their first 6 games, has been doubled to 6 losses in the New Year alone. This includes a 4-3 defeat to Schalke in the second leg of their last 16 fixture, meaning Real only narrowly qualified due to their 2-0 victory in the first leg. The pressure will be on Gareth Bale, still unflavoured by the Spanish media despite scoring more goals than he did last season. The Welshman is at 8/1 to score first, behind Cristiano Ronaldo at 4/1 with 8 goals in the Champions League and 49 goals in total, and Karim Benzema at 7/1 with 6 goals in Europe. Despite Atletico’s recent run against Real, tonight’s game is too close to call at a Atletico Madrid/Real Madrid Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of -0.1-0.1, with a Total Goals spread of 2.35-2.55.

Tuesday’s second game looks slightly easier to call as Monaco travel to Turin to face Juventus at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1. Juventus are currently sitting 12 points above 2nd place Lazio in Serie A; even a shocking defeat to bottom place Parma at the weekend is likely to have zero to no impact on their title hopes. Juve breezed through to the quarter finals, beating Beat Borussia Dortmund, who remain a shadow of their former self, 5-1 over two legs. Winning 9 of their past 10 games will increase Juve’s confidence, as will the fact that Pirlo could make his first appearance since his calf injury in the first leg against Dortmund; however, they will be missing the influential Frenchman Paul Pogba, who is out with an hamstring injury.



Despite being the underdog, Monaco will fancy their chances on Tuesday night. They managed to see off Arsenal on away goals, largely due to their 3-1 victory in the first leg, and currently sit in 3rd in Ligue 1, behind Lyon and PSG by 3 and 4 points respectively. Impressively, Monaco have only conceded 4 goals in the entire tournament so far; on the other hand, they have only scored 7 in their last 8 European games, meaning the French side may struggle against a defence that can be as mean as their own. Regardless of Monaco’s self-confidence, their Italian rival remains the favourite at a Juventus/Monaco Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1-1.2; and given the tightness of each side’s defence, Spreadex is offering a low Total Goals spread of 2.1-2.3.

Turning to Wednesday, Bayern Munich face a trip to Portugal as they meet FC Porto at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 5. The Portuguese side are currently sitting in 2nd in the Primeira Liga, 3 points behind Benfica, who are one of only 2 sides that have beaten Porto at home this season. Porto had perhaps the easiest draw of the last 16, leading them to beat FC Basle 5-1 over the two legs. They have also impressively only conceded one first half goal in their 10 Champions League matches this season, leading to a Total Goal Minutes spread for Wednesday’s game of 123-133.



Whilst Porto have only lost twice at home this season, they face tough competition in the intimidating German form of Bayern Munich. They sit 10 points ahead of Wolfsburg atop the Bundesliga, and despite a recent against Borussia Mönchengladbach still look formidable. In terms of the Champions League, their goal remained unsullied over their last 16 fixtures against Shaktar Donestk; after a goalless draw in the first leg, Bayern really kicked it up a few gears for the second leg, thumping the Ukrainian side 7-0 to progress to the quarter finals. Unsurprisingly this leaves Bayern as favourites for the first leg; however, Porto’s strong home form leaves it at a rather slender Bayern Munich/Porto (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.6-0.8, with a Total Goals spread of 2.4-2.6.

The final game of the quarter finals sees a trip to bon Paris for Barcelona as they face PSG at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1. The French side have a narrow lead atop Ligue 1, ahead of Lyon by a solitary point; however this slim margin betrays the fact that they have an incredible home form that sees them unbeaten in their last 24 games at the Parc des Princes. Frustratingly for PSG they will be missing their big Swede after Ibrahimovic was sent off against Chelsea; however PSG still managed to beat the Blues despite Zlatan’s early exit in the second leg, and have the quality to do the same against Barcelona.



Yet Barcelona are Barcelona, and are the kind of team anyone, regardless of quality, would want to avoid. Sitting 1st in La Liga, Barca are unbeaten in 10 games; in fact, they have only lost 5 times all season in all competitions, with 3 draws and a staggering 39 victories. They comfortably progress over Manchester City, winning 3-1 over the two legs, a score line that could have been a lot higher if it wasn’t for some Joe Hart heroics. Obviously attention will be on Lionel Messi, who, like Ronaldo, has 8 goals this tournament, and 45 in total this season, and will be looking to overtake Donestk’s Luiz Adriano on 9 goals as top scorer. Our Spreadex traders are expecting Messi and co. to break PSG’s home unbeaten streak at a Barcelona/PSG (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.7-0.9 with a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85.