Tuesday Champions League – Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich Preview

May 1, 2018 19:45 – Santiago Bernabeu

Recent Form (All Competitions)

Real Madrid: LWDWW

Bayern Munich: WWWLW

The resumption of this European heavyweight tie continues in Spain as Real Madrid welcome German champions Bayern Munich to the Bernabeu after winning 2-1 in Germany.

With the La Liga title long since out of their reach, Real coach Zinedine Zidane rested a whole host of first teamers for Real’s 2-1 win over Leganes on Saturday. Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema did feature and the Welshman found the net after just eight minutes. Despite not being at their best for the entire game they picked up a win, but more importantly the bulk of the first team got a rest ahead of the second leg.

Despite the world class talent on display at the Allianz Arena, the first leg was full of unforced errors. However, this was countered by quality finishing. This season’s Champions League top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, was fairly quiet but don’t expect that to be the case on home soil as Real go in search for a third Champions League win in a row.

Real’s Champions League record is exceptional, the loss to Juventus in the last round their only defeat in their last 30 European games, and they have won 34 of their last 41 home games in the competition. Against German teams, they have won 25 out of 33 home games, and in two-legged ties with German clubs in UEFA competition they have won 17 and lost just eight.

Only twice in the history of the Champions League has a team lost the first leg at home and gone on to win the tie. Despite that, Bayern Munich can take heart from the fact that Juventus scored three times in Madrid in the last round.

Bayern also rested the majority of their first team squad last weekend. Jupp Heynckes made eight changes and handed first team debuts to a trio of teenagers. The game ended in a 4-1 victory but it seems pretty much irrelevant given they have already won the league and full focus has always been on the Champions League since they sealed the title.

Bayern are not quite at full strength and given that they were the better of the two teams in the first leg, that defeat would have been knocked out of their sails. They created a wealth of chances and could have been free and clear had they not been so wasteful. Top scorer Robert Lewandowski in particular had the chances to give the Germans the advantage. Bayern’s away record against Spanish clubs is not great having lost 15 of 27 games.

Prediction

History, injuries and lost opportunities in the first leg essentially give Bayern no chance, add to that the amazing record Real hold in the Champions League a home win with over 2.5 goals looks like a decent option.

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