Champions League preview: Chelsea in danger of going out, while City and Liverpool in pole position

Another week of Champions League action is upon us as we prepare for the second legs of the quarter finals.

We take a look at this week’s fixtures below.

Real Madrid v Chelsea

Karim Benzema’s hat-trick saw Real Madrid triumphant in a 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday in the first leg. Thomas Tuchel’s side will enter the game on high confidence following Chelsea’s 6-0 thrashing of Southampton at St. Mary’s, as will Real who have won three from three so far in April.

Both sides average over two goals scored per game in their respective leagues with BTTS looking likely at 4/6.

Madrid, the most successful club in UCL history, have won the competition 13 times and will be keen to add one more. They have progressed from nine of their previous 10 ties in the Champions League knockout stage when winning the first leg away from home and consequently, the Spanish giants are heavy favourites at 1/14 to reach the semi-finals. Benzema will lead the line for Madrid, following two exceptional performances against Chelsea and PSG. He scored hat-tricks in both those ties meaning he has 44 goals and 13 assists in 45 appearances this season and averages 3.7 shots on target per game. We’ve enhanced odds on Benzema to score two or more to 6/1.

Atletico Madrid v Manchester City

Undefeated in nine, Manchester City will look to continue their brilliant run of form against Atletico following a closely fought 1-0 win in the first leg. Atletico’s 1-0 deficit means that the tie is far from over, but the reigning La Liga champions experienced another blow to their momentum since the Etihad defeat in the form of a 1-0 loss to Mallorca on Saturday, despite previously winning six on the bounce in all competitions.

Predicted to be a close affair, City are favourites at 3/4, with a draw priced at 5/2 and Atletico slight outsiders at 4/1. City have conceded just one goal in their last 630 minutes of domestic and continental action on the road and are priced at 13/10 to keep a clean sheet at the Wanda Metropolitano. Having been eliminated by English opposition in the likes of Chelsea last year, Atletico are 5/1 to qualify for the next round should you feel as though an upset is on the cards. Conversely, City are 1/8 favourites to make it to the semi-finals.

Liverpool v Benfica

The first leg resulted in a comfortable 3-1 victory for Liverpool, the first time the Reds have beaten Benfica in a Champions League match/European Cup match since October 1984, having lost their previous three meetings without scoring a goal. History tells us it will take a momentous effort for Benfica to overturn this two-goal deficit and in fact only two clubs have ever won by more than one goal at Anfield in the Champions League knockout stages. Benfica were indeed one of these clubs, proving it was possible in the 2005-06 Round of 16 in a 2-0 away-victory, with Chelsea being the other to achieve this feat.

Liverpool go into this fixture as heavy odds-on favourites, priced at 2/7. Benfica are huge outsiders at 17/2, with a draw 24/5. Mohamed Salah will be looking to use this game as an opportunity to put an end to his four-game goal-drought which has left him goalless since scoring against Brighton on March 12.  He’s priced at 6/10 to do just that, with Darwin Nunez Benfica’s most likely scorer at 9/5.

Bayern Munich v Villarreal

Bayern Munich’s 1-0 first leg defeat to Villarreal was their 20th against a Spanish team in European competition, their most against sides from a specific nation. Unai Emery’s men will be desperate to hold on but remain outsiders despite their win. They’re priced at 7/4 to qualify for the semi-finals as supposed to Bayern who are 2/5 favourites.

Top of both the Bundesliga and Champion League goal-scoring charts with an outstanding 44 goals in the two so far, Robert Lewandowski will be sure to be in the running to add to this tally. At 2/5 he is the most likely goal-scorer of the match, with Gerard Moreno the away side’s best shot at 21/10. While Bayern are 1/4 favourites to win the second leg, at 10/1 Villarreal cannot be written off as Juventus learnt when the Yellow Submarine defied the odds to beat them 3-0 in the Round of 16.

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