Champions League .......Europa......Discussion thread

Thought it would be a good time to open up the forum on the 4 great games this week. At this stage its tough to get a clear winner in any game, so any advantage or injury etc is great to hear about. Feel free to chime in and lets see where it goes......

Tuesday:  Real Madrid @ Man City

My initial lean is to the over and perhaps Man City DNB. Two players who will put a stamp on this 2 game series are Ronaldo and De Bruyne. I cant see either back 4 being capable of dealing with these 2  right now. Pelligrini has realized that Toure is too slow and lazy to play at this level. His massive salary, and pressure from the cheque writers, have him playing more in League games . With Navas....Silva and De Bruyne in the midfield, as they were against PSG, I think they can balance out Madrid. Still on the fence tho

Wednesday: Ch. League

Bayern Munich at Athletico Madrid  

I am leaning to Bayern on Tuesday because of value only. As a Bayern fan I rarely get a chance to back them at a decent price. I am worried about Bayerns back 4 without Boatang, as both Juve and Benfica exposed. The 21 year kid Kimmich has great upside potential but definitely not capable of playing without error at this level.  Atl Madrid are the kings of counter attacking footie and Bayern may be a prime candidate. That said, for all the possession that Bayern have every game, they are potent when it comes to crosses into the box. I think they have a distinct advantage with players like Lewandoski and Mueller.

 My 2 cents.........Opinions are appreciated.

Zamigo       Appreciate the thoughts. Looks like we are all set on Tuesdays game. Apparently Madrid and Ronaldo are rubbish, so we only have to get the wife to sign off on a new mortgage and bet on Man City    Boom.......a 2nd house for free

Anxiously awaiting the Bayern / Atl. Madrid write up

Great feed back guys

There seems to be a consensus about Atl. Bilbao taking advantage of Bayern's back 4 without Boateng. Hard to ignore. Goals should be abundant in the Madrid / City series as well.

Thanks to all who chimed in

franz,

Real Madrid -vs- Manchester City   2:45 PM [EST]

took a long (logical) look at this matchup; my plays for today...

OVER 2.5 @ -130   5.2 units   (Westgate SuperBook)

DRAW +240   2 units   (CG Technology)

"let's see what happens"

MVantastic       Those games at City that you mentioned, didn't include the likes of Kompany, Aguero and most importantly De Bruyne. As I was saying in the first post, Toure and his fat contract are a huge headache for Pelligrini. Toure getting injured on the weekend, helped Pelligrini make the best decision for the team. Toure is too slow to keep pace at his age. He is also very lazy at defending or exerting what little energy he has. With De Bruyne slotted in the center of the pitch for City, they are a totally different, and MUCH better team. As Ganda said, De Bruyne is HUGE for City. I have had the pleasure of watching him for the past few years at Wolfsburg. He is a game changer. Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale are all nursing injuries for Real Madrid. I have no idea what the extent of their injuries are, so I wont speculate, but I do think it gives cause for doubt.

I am certain that Real will carry the play to City today, but they have been terrible at giving up goals on mistakes and the counter attack. The Wolfsburg game in Germany was a prime example. Even teams like Rayo Vallacano, Las Palmas, Levante, Malaga, Granada etc. have scored against Real Madrid , when playing on the road.  Its enough reason to believe that City should be able to score at home. So I will back the Over and hope that both teams see the importance of scoring in the 1st leg.

Wheaty      That was my thinking as well. City don't have the luxury of opening on the road and knowing how to play back at home. They know they need a result today and need to score. Conversely, Real remember the loss in Wolfsburg and will want to get an away goal.

Piotrtoro      I really liked BTTS but my best line at the books I use is 1.65, so I passed on it.

Golazo  I don't think Kompany is near 100 %. He was slow and cautioned for grabbing a few Newcastle players as they beat him a week ago. Not sure who will adjust to the speed of Ronaldo and Bale coming in from both flanks ? I also doubt that Pelligrini thinks he can beat Real Madrid by playing 11 men behind the ball and weathering the constant onslaught. Don't see it myself. I think Pelligrini will look to counter attack Real with numbers in order to gain a goal or 2. This in itself creates a more open game, not the wide open game that you are assuming. The question is whether or not you believe players like Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva, Navas, Rodriguez.......will all be shut out today. I think its a lot to ask for at both ends given the state of both defenses.

BOL   either way