Wednesday night’s Uefa Champions League action sees defending champions Real Madrid bid to overturn a 2-1 deficit when they host Juventus in the second leg of their semi final.
Real Madrid
Current La Liga Position 2nd (as of 11th May)
Last Six League Results W5 D1 L0
Home Record P18 W15 D2 L1 GS 58 GC 12
2014/15 Champions League: P 11 W8 D1 L2 GS 23 GC 8
Real come into the game knowing they have to find the net or they will be eliminated. A 1-0 win for the Madrid side would be enough to see them through but if the Spanish giants fail to keep a clean sheet, they will have plenty to do to make the final. Ronaldo was on target for Real in the first leg last week but his goal wasn’t enough to prevent Juventus taking a first leg lead thanks to an early goal from Morata and a second half penalty from Tevez. Real have won 13 of their last 14 Champions League home games but the one defeat they suffered in that sequence came in the Round of 16 this season when Schalke won 4-3 here (Real went through 5-4 on aggregate). Since the first leg Real were held 2-2 at home to Valencia and that leaves them four points behind Barcelona in the Spanish title race with just two rounds of matches to play.
Juventus
Current Serie A Position 1st (as of 11th May)
Last Six League Results W3 D2 L1
Away Record P17 W9 D5 L3 GS 23 GC 10
2014/15 Champions League: P11 W7 D2 L2 GS 15 GC 6
Juventus are looking to seal a first appearance in the final since 2003 when they finished as runners up. They are unbeaten in the knockout rounds so far, winning home and away against Dortmund in the Round of 16 before beating Monaco 1-0 in Turin and drawing the second leg of their quarter final 0-0 away from home. In Juve’s favour, they are very strong defensively but this is undoubtedly their biggest test so far. Juventus are already assured of winning the Serie A title this season which explains a recent dip in their domestic results but if they can get through this second leg, they will start to dream of being crowned Champions of Europe for the first time since 1996.
Champions League Overall Head to Head Record
Played 9
Juventus Wins 5
Draws 1
Real Madrid Wins 3
Previous Six Head to Heads Results
05/05/15 UCL Juve 2-1 Real Madrid
05/11/13 UCL Juve 2-2 Real Madrid
23/10/13 UCL Real Madrid 2-1 Juve
05/11/08 UCL Real Madrid 0-2 Juve
21/10/08 UCL Juve 2-1 Real Madrid
09/03/05 UCL Juve 2-0 Real Madrid (after extra time, 1-0 90 mins)
22/02/05 UCL Real Madrid 1-0 Juve
2nd Leg Match Result Betting
Real Madrid 1.62
Draw 4.00
Juventus 5.00
*Odds are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Summary:
Juventus will look to play on the counter attack and although they have one of the best defensive records in Europe, they come up against a team who rarely fail to score at home. The big question is whether the Italian club can score an away goal in regulation time to make Real’s task even tougher and we think they can.
Pick: Both teams to score (yes) @1.81