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Liverpool vs Real Madrid
When: Wednesday, April 14 – 20:00 GMT
Where: Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Weather: Partly cloudy, 7°C
Referee: Björn Kuipers
Los Blancos travel to Anfield with a 3-1 advantage, so it’s up to the Reds to try and get a win. Thanks to the away goal rule, Liverpool would advance to the semis with a 2-0 win.
However, if Real Madrid manage to score one goal, Liverpool would need to score three just to take the game to extra time.
If the Spanish team puts away more than one goal, Liverpool’s job will become even harder. In such a scenario, the Reds would need to win by a margin of at least three goals (e.g., 5-2). The obvious question is whether the English side is capable of achieving such a feat?
Liverpool’s Defensive Worries Continue
The reigning Premier League champions are currently in the #6 place in the standings, with 22 points fewer than the table leaders, Manchester City. It’s safe to say that the dream of keeping the domestic title in their possession is already over.
However, the dream of reclaiming the Champions League title is still pretty much alive. Liverpool is the team that won the trophy two years ago and the players most responsible for that success are still in the squad.
The problem is that some of those players are out with injuries. Virgil van Dijk is the player the Reds have been missing the most. Arguably the best center-back in the universe had played only seven games this season before getting injured.
To make things even worse, two other center-backs also got injured – Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
As a result, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been forced to use Ozan Kabak and Nathaniel Phillips as the center-back duo. Unfortunately for Liverpool, the two haven’t been overly impressive and were nothing short of terrible in the first leg.
Liverpool played with a high defensive line, which Real Madrid midfielders (particularly Toni Kroos) had no problems penetrating with long passes. That game also saw Trent Alexander-Arnold making a blunder that led directly to a Real Madrid goal.
Furthermore, Liverpool’s goalie Alisson hasn’t been playing at the level he got everyone used to. Although he’s not much to blame for the defeat to Real Madrid, we did see him making some costly mistakes in the last couple of weeks.
Obviously, the defence is Liverpool’s main worry tonight, but the fact is that their attack has also been underachieving. The Reds scored only 13 goals in the previous 10 games in all competitions.
We say “only” because some of the world’s best forwards play for this team – Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Diego Jota, and so on.
No Defeat for Real Madrid Since January
Similar to Liverpool, Real Madrid also have some serious problems at the back. Two of their crucial center backs are out – captain Sergio Ramos and World Cup-winning Frenchman Raphael Varane. On top of that, in tonight’s Liverpool vs Real Madrid game, the visitors are also going to be without Dani Carvajal, Eden Hazard, and Lucas.
It’s been like this for a while, but Zidane’s boys don’t seem to mind much. Despite so many of their key men out injured, Los Blancos were able to record some big wins lately.
For instance, right after beating Liverpool 3-1, they won El Classico, beating their arch-rivals Barcelona by 2-1. Another impressive fact is that the team from the Spanish capital is without a defeat in 13 games in all competitions, winning 11 games along the way.
The best thing is that in order to progress to the final four of the Champions League, they don’t need to win nor even play a draw. The only thing they need is not to lose by a large goal margin.
Liverpool vs Real Madrid Betting Picks
In the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal between Liverpool and Real Madrid, we saw a total of four goals. Are we in for something similar tonight?
Both teams are without their key defenders, while almost all of their most prolific forwards are fit and ready for the game.
Liverpool need to score a bare minimum of two goals, which suggests that the Reds will be the ones to dominate the game. However, constantly trying to score is bound to leave their defence exposed, giving a chance to Real Madrid to score from counter-attacks.
For all these reasons, it’s very likely we’re going to witness a lot of goals tonight, probably on both ends.
Prediction: Over 3.5 Goals – 2.38 at SBO
