Sports Blog 17/02/2016: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League Last 16 1st Leg, Wednesday 17th February 2016

The Champions League last 16 continues this Wednesday, with a trip to Italy for Real Madrid and the continuation of a European dream run for Gent.

Though all may not be well in the Madrid camp the Spanish giants face Roma at 7.45pm on BT Sport Europe coming off a 9 game unbeaten run. Since Zinedine Zindane took over at the start of January the club have looked especially impressive, winning 5, drawing 1 all the whilst scoring 23 goals. They were also the best performing club in the Champions League group stages, a 0-0 draw against PSG the only blight on an otherwise spotless record.

And whilst he may have come under some criticism this season, most recently walking out of a press conference after being probed about his away form and his supposed lack of harmony with Benzema and Bale (the latter of whom will be absent in Italy), it is hard to argue with Cristiano Ronaldo’s stats. With 11 goals in the group stages, the Portuguese maestro became the first player to reach double digits before the knockouts, whilst his 21 goals in La Liga is second only to Barca’s Luis Suarez, leaving him with a whopping Super Mega PGM spread of 60-70.



If Real strutted into the last 16 with nary a misstep to be seen, then to say Roma scraped through by the skin of their teeth is a gross understatement. Opening the group stage with a 1-1 draw against Barcelona is nothing to be sniffed at; following that up with a 3-2 defeat to BATE Borisov and a 4-4 draw against Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, has a distinctly sour odour.

A 3-2 home win over the German club saw a chink of light break through Roma’s European campaign, a chink of light that was immediately smothered out by a truly embarrassing 6-1 demolition at the hands of Barcelona. Roma’s great qualifying triumph was a limp 0-0 draw against Borisov, seeing them kick out Leverkusen on a head-to-head basis. At least they a on a 4 game winning streak in Serie A, though they still sit 10 points behind 1st place Juventus in 4th.

The huge divergence in their European form suggests Zidane may be looking at his first Champions League win at the helm of his former club, with Spreadex offering a Real Madrid/Roma (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.65-0.85 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3-3.2.

Wednesday’s other game is almost as intriguing, with Belgium’s Gent hosting Wolfsburg at 7.45pm on BT Sport 2. Winning their first ever Belgian Pro League title last season Gent were drawn in a group that, on paper, looked like they were a cert to finish bottom in. Yet a draw and win against Lyon, and one loss and one victory against both Valencia and Zenit Saint Petersburg saw the Belgian side finish in 2nd place behind their Russian group-mates. Gent are also holding strong domestically, sitting in 2nd place but on the same 55 points as 1st place Club Brugge and 4 points ahead of 3rd place Anderlecht.



If Gent have looked good domestically and in Europe, then Wolfsburg are using the Champions League as a way to compensate for a rather lacklustre Bundesliga performance. Languishing in 8th place in the German league, a painful 26 point away from 1st place Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg have only won one Bundesliga game in the last 8, a 2-0 victory over Inglosadt last weekend. In Europe, however, Wolfsburg looked solid. Losses against Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven on their travels were overcome with a double victory over CSKA Moscow, and home wins over their Dutch and English rivals, the latter triumph knocking United out of the competition.

What once would have been a relatively easy challenge for the German side looks far less certain given Gent’s good form, leading Spreadex to offer a Wolfsburg/Gent (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.45-2.65.

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