ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: Manchester City v Real Madrid

Star Sports football ambassador ALEX CROOK previews a mouthwatering clash between Manchester City and Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League playoff at the Etihad…

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 MANCHESTER CITY v REAL MADRID 🇪🇸
Tuesday, 8pm

It will be a meeting of familiar foes when 2023 Champions League winners Manchester City host holders Real Madrid in the first leg of their play-off on Tuesday night.

This is the fourth year in a row the two heavyweights collide, with City looking to avenge last season’s quarter-final defeat when 15-times European champions Real KO’d them on penalties.

Neither side have pulled up any trees in the competition to this point, with City scraping through in 22nd place and 45 minutes away from elimination against Club Brugge two weeks ago.

Real finished 11th, but are in better form than City domestically, and are a point clear of neighbours Atleti at the top of La Liga after a 1-1 draw in the Madrid derby at the weekend.

City meanwhile had to come from behind to see off lowly Leyton Orient in their FA Cup fourth round tie and were thrashed 5-1 at Arsenal on their last Premier League outing.

Often, the first legs of knockout ties can be cagey affairs, but both teams look vulnerable defensively with City conceding 14 times in eight games in the league phase while only six teams had a worse expected goals-against percentage than Real.

With that in mind both Pep Guardiola and Real counterpart Carlo Ancelotti might feel attack is their best form of defence so over 3.5 goals at 11/10 with starsports.bet looks a solid starting point.

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Unsurprisingly the top of the goalscoring markets are dominated by Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe but the former has a poor record against Los Blancos and Mbappe’s teammate Vinicius Junior has been their main source of goals in Europe for the past couple of seasons.

Vinicius no longer has England defender Kyle Walker to do battle with following his January move to AC Milan, with Matheus Nunes likely to be given the nod at right-back.

Nunes will have his work cut out trying to shackle the Brazilian and is going to have to make a lot of tackles so the 5/2 on offer with starsports.bet for him to be shown a card looks decent value.

After his sulky reaction to being overlooked in favour of City’s Rodri for last year’s Ballon D’Or, Vinicius is also likely to have a point to prove.

Vinicius at 21/10 with starsports.bet to score at any time is another standout selection.

Real’s head-to-head record against City of just four wins from their previous 12 encounters does not make pleasant reading for Ancelotti.

But looking at how the hosts have struggled against minnows like Feyenoord and Brugge during what is now being viewed as a transitional season, and how easily they were picked apart at the Emirates, this feels like a great opportunity for Ancelotti’s troops.

A build-a-bet on Real Madrid to win, over 3.5 goals, Matheus Nunes to be shown a yellow card and Vinicius to score returns 30/1 with starsports.bet

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Build-a-bet: Real Madrid to win, over 3.5 goals, Matheus Nunes to be shown a yellow card and Vinicius to score 0.5pts at 30/1 with starsports.bet

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