PSG-Real Madrid: Betting Angles for Tuesday’s Champions League Clash
There’s no doubt about it: Paris Saint-Germain have an uphill task to try and come back from a 3-1 first leg defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League (kick-off 2:45 pm ET), and the news that they’ll have do so without Neymar may just have turned that hill into a mountain.
Things started so well at the Bernabeu for the Ligue 1 leaders a matter of weeks ago, with Adrien Rabiot an unlikely first-half scorer, but in truth this tie turned on its head on the stroke of halftime. Giovani Lo Celso naively pulled Toni Kroos back in the box and Cristiano Ronaldo did the rest from the penalty spot.
At 2-1, after the Portuguese talisman had bagged his second, the task was neither straightforward nor daunting for the French outfit ahead of the second leg. However, a lack of concentration saw Marcelo score a late third for the hosts to really put Zinedine Zidane’s men in the driving seat for the second leg.
What does it mean for those of you looking to get a little action down on Tuesday's match?
Real Madrid certainly isn't in for a cake walk, with no side having left the Parc des Princes with as much as a draw this season, but without their star player and world-record signing, the home side are unquestionably weakened.
That makes the best price on a home win (evens with multiple bookmakers) hard to get behind on Tuesday. Instead, odds of 1.91 (-110) in a number of places on Real Madrid to win or draw in the double chance market are very appealing. Los Blancos bounced back from a humiliating defeat at Espanyol with a comfortable win over Getafe over the weekend and have been free-scoring in general of late.
Indeed, across their past 10 matches in the league and Champions League, the reigning Spanish and European champions have struck an average of 3.6 goals per game. Another angle, then, could be to look at the visitors to score over 1.5 yet again (available at 1.96/-104 with Marathon Bet). They're up against a side that are not only without Neymar but that will have to play on the front foot and may well leave spaces on the counter, as a result.
That said, being able to fall back on former Madrid playmaker Angel Di Maria is some luxury for PSG, with the Argentine in fine form himself of late. Aggrieved to have been an unused substitute in the meeting between the sides last month — on his 30th birthday no less — Di Maria should feel he not only has a point to prove to the board of the side that let him leave but also his own manager.
After all, Di Maria is in the form of his life, with 17 goals in all competitions this season and 15 of those coming in his past 16 competitive starts. With that in mind, odds of 2.80 (+180) with Paddy Power to score at any time are worth considering, but any lower than that and I would opt out.
Instead there is real value on Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured above) to find the net, which isn’t something you’ll find often. After an early-season slump that saw the former Manchester United man fall way below his usual goal-scoring standards, Ronaldo has rediscovered his touch in and around the box and then some. He has 14 goals in his past eight appearances.
It should also be said that while he struggled in La Liga in the first half of the season, that has certainly not been the case in Europe, reaching double figures in the Champions League for the seventh year running.
Around the evens mark I would have been tempted, but as high as 2.33 (+133) with Unibet — and with multiple bookmakers offering the chance to secure double your money or more — a bet on the Portugal skipper to score at any time has to be the smart option here.
All odds current as of Monday evening.
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