Of the 4 Champions League matches taking place this midweek, this is one of the toughest to find a bet in. Both sides are coming off the back of good domestic victories and although Napoli are behind at the halfway point in this tie, they’re not completely out of it just yet.
Of the two sides, Napoli had the harder game from the weekend fixtures as they went up against AS Roma. The end result was an impressive away victory with Dries Mertens scoring a brace. There was even time to give Mertens and Marek Hamsik a bit of a rest as both were substituted in the second half. Napoli will need both of those players to be fully ready for this match if they want to have any hope of winning.
Real Madrid played Eibar but took the opportunity to rest a few players ahead of their Champions League match. Ronaldo was not risked after suffering a slight muscle injury, Isco, Kroos, Carvajal and Marcelo were all rested and should return to the starting lineup for this one. So too should Gareth Bale who was unavailable through suspension (and still has one more domestic game on his ban) but is available for this one.
Napoli will be well aware that conceding a single goal against Real Madrid will make their task seem like a Herculean challenge. Right now they have the away goal and a 2-0 win will see them through but that’s not going to be easy against Real Madrid who have been in fine goalscoring form this season. An early Napoli goal could make this a very interesting game and that’s what a lot of neutrals will be hoping for. Madridista’s, on the other hand, will be looking to kick back and enjoy an uneventful match.
Real Madrid are the favourites for this match but it’s not by much in reality. That does open up the door for a bet on the away victory at odds of 2.45 with BetVictor. It would be hard to deny the value in that bet and I wouldn’t blame anyone for going for it but I’m taking things a little easier. For me, the draw is the risk here. It’s not so likely that I’ll take a bet on it, even at 3.89 with Pinnacle, but it’s likely enough that I’m going to play this one conservatively.
There are two options available for me. I can either go for Real Madrid Draw No Bet at 1.78 (BetVictor) or I can go for Real Madrid +0 is the Asian Handicap market. As these equate to the same thing you’d expect the odds to be the same as well but you can get 1.84 with green listed bookmaker BetVictor for Real Madrid +0. Weird but true. I’m not complaining though and I’ll take the higher odds, just in case.
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