12 Jun 2019
After an incredible set of quarter final fixtures in this year’s Champions League, the stage is now set as the four teams left in the hat this week turn their attention to their respective first leg encounters.
For Roma, there’s no doubt it’s the man they gave away to Liverpool that they will fear most as they face a trip to a notoriously hostile Anfield.
Despite his side throwing away a 2-0 lead at the hands of bottom club West Brom this weekend, Egyptian, Salah, has still had a week to remember, equalling the Premier League’s single season goal record at 31 for the campaign as well as being crowned PFA player of the year.
With Salah leading the way, the Reds will hope to replicate their success against Roma in the 1984 final over the two legs.
In the other tie, a clash of the treble hunters is in store as two sides that have so often met at the semi-final stage in the competition match-up in Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. The Germans have got the edge in four of the last six of these and will hope to build on that statistic here as they seek to add to their league title with a domestic cup final also still to come.
On the flip side, Real Madrid look towards an unprecedented third successive Champions League crown. With James, Heynckes, Robben and Kroos all up against their former clubs, we expect no love loss here as we breakdown the key battles.
Liverpool vs Roma
Of course, it’s hard to look past the undoubted talents of Mo Salah in this one, a force that has helped Liverpool towards a ridiculous tally of 39 goals in this year’s competition. Salah has not failed to score since the Reds lost in the league to Manchester United in early March, a run of ten goals in seven appearances.
With Roma having won only one of their last 15 away matches in the Champions League and Salah’s red-hot form, it’s hard to look past Klopp’s men. Combine this with the fact that they have the leading provider in the competition in James Milner (8 assists), and we think Liverpool will take this one at a canter. Get them at Champions League betting odds of 1/2 to win here. Interestingly, the Italians are yet to concede a goal in the competition at home this season, so Liverpool will certainly be keen to stamp their authority on this first-leg.
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid
Although Ronaldo still stole the headlines as Real Madrid survived a scare in scraping through their tie with Juventus in the last round, Bayern’s Thomas Müller was recently quoted saying ‘we’re facing Real at the right time!’ – we think he may well be right.
The Spanish giants have recorded just one win in their last four games, as they sit 15 points adrift of Barcelona at the top of La Liga. That being said, they still have Ronaldo at their disposal, a man that has scored in three of these four fixtures and leads the way in Europe this season with 15 goals in the Champions League. Although Ronaldo has ten more goals than Bayern’s main man, Lewandowski in this year’s competition though, the two are tied in all competitions with 38 goals apiece for their respective 2017-2018 campaigns. Lewandowski is the more prolific of late too, having scored four in his last three as Bayern have won by at least three goals in all of these.
With Bayern on a high, we fancy Lewandowski to bag himself a goal or two. If he does, Bayern could very well take an advantage with them on their travels to the Bernabeu. Get them to beat Real in Munich at football betting odds of 19/20.
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