A terrific opportunity for Real Madrid to land a famous double after seeing Barcelona exit the Champions League and they should be too good for Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
With the La Liga title a formality in the coming weeks, having recorded a famous triumph at the Camp Nou on Sunday, Jose Mourinho and his players will now have their eyes on winning Europe’s most significant club competition for a record tenth time and I expect them to reach the showpiece with relative ease.
Real must overcome a 2-1 first leg deficit against high calibre opponents but Mourinho and his men can take care of Bayern in similar fashion to the five other Champions League visitors to the Bernabeu this season and set up a showdown with Chelsea.
Mourinho would love nothing more than to deprive one of his former clubs on the biggest stage of all and the Portuguese will be hugely confident of becoming the first manager to win the famous trophy with three different sides.
A last-minute Mario Gomez strike at the Allianz Arena, home of the final, last week gives Wednesday’s visitors something to protect but Real have been utterly dominant in front of their own fans all season and are currently right at the top of their game.
Bayern, having failed to wrestle back the Bundesliga title from rivals Borussia Dortmund, would dearly love to play for a fifth European Cup in their own stadium but some of their performances on the road this term have been pretty lacklustre and, in the big matches, they have often failed to make a breakthrough.
Defeats in the last 16 of this competition in Basel, and domestically Dortmund, both without scoring, suggest to me Mourinho will be happy to stifle knowing he has plenty of threats going forward and Cristiano Ronaldo could, once again, prove the difference.
The match-winner against Barcelona, Ronaldo is clearly the start turn in Madrid but they are an exceptional side from back to front and are justifiably only 1.50 to get the win they need to advance.
That’s too short for me but the 3.00 about them doing so with a clean sheet appeals.
Eight of Real Madrid’s last 13 Champions League matches at home have ended this way and with Bayern, perhaps, looking to protect what they have, the Germans could struggle to find their attacking stride.
1pt Back Real Madrid To Win To Nil (vs. Bayern Munich) @ 3.00 (Bet Victor, Ladbrokes)