Home I Sports Betting I Sports Featured Articles I Champions League Final Preview & Betting Prediction
It’s finally here. A behemoth of a football match. The Champions League juggernaut set off all the way back in August and now rolls into Kiev for its final stop on Saturday. Liverpool and Real Madrid are the last two warriors left standing and go toe-to-toe in Ukraine’s Olympic stadium, 19.45 Saturday.
They’ve left some huge casualties in their wake, racking up a seismic seventy-eight goals in their combined twenty-six matches along the way. Expect goals, thrills, spills, blood, sweat, tears- but mainly goals.
Below are the respective routes to Kiev these two have taken.
Champions League Play-Off
Hoffenheim 1-2 Liverpool Liverpool 4-2 Hoffenheim
Group Stage
Sevilla 2-2 Liverpool Spartak Moscow 1-1 Liverpool Maribor 0-7 Liverpool Liverpool 3-0 Maribor Sevilla 3-0 Liverpool Liverpool 7-0 Spartak Moscow
Round of 16
Porto 0-5 Liverpool Liverpool 0-0 Porto
Quarter Final
Liverpool 3-0 Man City Man City 1-2 Liverpool
Semi Final
Liverpool 5-2 Roma Roma 4-2 Liverpool
Real Madrid 3-0 APOEL Dortmund 1-3 Real Madrid Real Madrid 1-1 Tottenham Tottenham 3-1 Real Madrid APOEL 0-6 Real Madrid Real Madrid 3-2 Dortmund
Real Madrid 3-1 PSG PSG 1-2 Real Madrid
Juventus 0-3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 1-3 Juventus
Bayern Munich 1-2 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 2-2 Bayern Munich
Regular readers of this column will know we’re already on Madrid to lift the trophy but, if you want to get aboard the train now before it stops at the pay-out counter on Saturday night, the cheapest tickets are at William Hill- who go 7/10 Madrid lift the Cup.
Again, our readers will know that here at VIP towers we are huge Cristiano Ronaldo fans. He’s been a loyal servant and found the net no less than fifteen times en route to the Final- that’s a goal every 72 minutes. Below are the best prices on markets associated with the great man- and we’ll be backing all of them.
To score at any time (90 mins) 888 Sport To score first 57/17 888 Sport To score 2+ 7/2 Coral To score a hat-trick 14/1 Betfred To be awarded Man of the Match 5/1 William Hill
We particularly like Ladbrokes’s 5/1 Man of the Match, Ronaldo has saved his absolute and world-beating best for the Champions League matches this term and, usually, the bigger the occasion, the better his performance.
A quick look down the run-ins each of these sides have had points to one thing and one thing only- GOALS. There have been only three matches, of twenty-six, where one of these sides scored less than 2.5 goals.
Neither side puts a premium on defending- and nor should they given their respective attacking resources- and neither Liverpool nor Madrid will be retreating, even if they find themselves comfortably in front.
Both teams have had huge scares along the way- Roma bit back at Liverpool after Klopp took Salah off and it nearly cost them dearly. Real tried to shut Juve out after amassing a 3-0 lead in Turin and ended up needing a last minute goal from Ronaldo just to qualify at home. In short, there’s no point in either of these sides trying to defend as they aren’t very good at it.
Check the Odds for the Champions League Final
We suggest a dabble on the following, depending on how brave you are-
Over 2.5 goals 1/2 Betfair Sports Over 3.5 goals 61/50 1xBet Over 4.5 goals 11/4 William Hill Over 5.5 goals 6/1 Coral
Both of these European giants have had their luck along the way in the Champions League this season, of that there is no doubt.
What Real Madrid have that Liverpool don’t, though, is recent Final experience. They are gunning for a third successive title and Liverpool have just sprung from nowhere. We think this could be a bridge too far for the scousers and really fancy Madrid to put them to the sword on the big stage.
We’ll be backing Madrid on the following handicaps (all for 90 minutes)-
Madrid – 1 goal 3-1 Pinnacle Madrid – 2 goals 15/2 Tipico Madrid – 3 goals 20/1 Coral.
We’ve laced your punting boots for you, all you have to do is fill them up.
As usual, very best of luck and we hope you enjoy this absolute beauty of a game.
Vamos Cristiano y Madrid!
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