Champions League: The Perfect Time for Real Madrid versus Liverpool

Real Madrid vs Liverpool

European football is back on the menu this week and all eyes will be on the Santiago Bernabeu where two giants of the competition meet in the quarter-finals…it’s Real Madrid versus Liverpool!

This is the Champions League tie of the round as the 2018 winners host the 2019 winners and both will have designs on the European crown again this year. According to the latest Champions League 2021 betting odds, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are at fourth favourites at odds of 7.00 to lift their title while Los Blancos are sixth favourites at 14.00.

It’s a great time for this coming together. Los Blancos are gathering momentum in their La Liga challenge while Liverpool seem to have awoken from a period of slumber and they put in a spectacular performance to beat Arsenal on Saturday.

The scene is set and the two teams are ready to do battle. This tie is the hardest one to pick of all four quarter-finals but, as always here at SBOTOP, we’re brave enough to make a call!

Talking Points

Benzema on fire for Los Blancos

Karim Benzema is determined to lead Real Madrid to a win against Liverpool in the Champions League — Karim Benzema in action during Real Madrid’s recent game against Eibar at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano

Real Madrid are within three points of La Liga leaders Atletico, who have a game in hand, but Zinedine Zidane’s side has been catching up with three league wins on the run since drawing with their city rivals at the beginning of March.

Karim Benzema has, once again, been spearheading the Los Blancos attack with huge commitment, and he is in the hunt for the La Liga Golden Boot with 18 league goals for the season. The French hitman was on target again as Los Blancos beat Eibar to keep up their La Liga challenge, after Marco Asensio had given the Madrid side the lead.

Asensio was also on target when Real beat Atalanta in the Champions League Round of 16, as was Benzema who made it five goals in the tournament.

Los Blancos will be without talismanic skipper Sergio Ramos after the centre-back suffered a calf injury during Spain’s 3-1 win over Kosovo, and that won’t have escaped the attention of Liverpool’s strikers.

Jota is the difference for Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have had a poor season by the stratospheric standards they set last season. They are out of domestic cup contention and are so far behind Manchester City in the league (25 points) that it is now mathematically impossible, with eight games to play, for the Reds to retain their Premier League title.

While the early-season loss of centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez was a heavy blow to their title aspirations, their challenge really fell off the rails when an injury put new recruit Diogo Jota out of action.

Jota started his career at Anfield so well that he managed to break up the legendary trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, and since his return from injury Liverpool have looked much more threatening again.

He scored the winner against Wolves just before the international break and, on Saturday night, he climbed off the bench to score a double as Liverpool registered an impressive 3-0 victory away to Arsenal.

Mo Salah was also on target but Klopp will have been most pleased by the performance put in by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The wing-back has been a prolific assist provider over the past two seasons but he has been way off his best during this campaign and lost his place in the recent England squad. But Trent swung in a brilliant cross to set up Jota’s opener and was a menace down the right flank throughout the second half.

While Liverpool’s domestic form has been patchy, their Champions League 2021 results have been much better, and Salah has five goals in the tournament while Diogo Jota has four.

History

Real Madrid have had the better of recent meetings with Liverpool, winning the last three encounters while Liverpool won the previous two. The most recent clash was the 2018 Champions League final in which Benzema was on target in a 3-1 win for the Spaniards. But the big moment came when Gareth Bale scored a spectacular overhead kick to make it 2-1.

While Liverpool are showing signs of improvement, Los Blancos have the better recent form with a winning streak of four matches and without a defeat in 11.

Betting Tip

	Real Madrid vs Liverpool	Over 2.50 @ 1.85
	April 7, 03:00 (GMT+8)

Los Blancos are at 2.44 to win this leg, with Liverpool at 2.54 and the draw is 3.11, and it’s a tie which could go either way. Real Madrid will expect to continue their unbeaten run and you can get odds of 1.91 on Los Blancos Draw no Bet.

But with each team missing big defensive players, while their strikers are in red hot form, I’m hoping for an entertaining clash with plenty of goalmouth action.