Real Madrid v Manchester City Betting Tips: Can Pep Guardiola outfox his old rivals?

Form

Real will be relishing a break from domestic action afterfollowing up a draw against Celta Vigo with a disappointing 1-0 defeat atLevante on Saturday. However, they’d won their previous five La Liga games andthey trail league leaders Barcelona by just two points.

Eden Hazard’s return from injury lasted two games andZinedine Zidane will be hoping Gareth Bale can step up and end his goaldrought, having failed to score in the league since September.

City remain 22 points behind Liverpool in the Premier Leaguedespite wins over West Ham and Leicester. Aymeric Laporte’s timely return from thesidelines has coincided with two consecutive clean sheets.

Likely XIs

With Hazard ruled out for three months, Zidane faces aheadache in replacing him and Isco is likely to get the nod ahead of ViniciusJunior and Rodrygo. The French boss may consider ringing the changes in orderto get back to winning ways, meaning Marcelo could make way for Ferland Mendywhile Federico Valverde may replace Luka Modric in the middle.

Guardiola has a near fully-fit squad to choose from and Laporte is set to partner Fernandinho in the heart of defence once again. David Silva should slot back into the line-up after being rested at the weekend and Raheem Sterling is expected to replace Riyad Mahrez after missing the last two games with a hamstring problem.

Key Battles

Karim Benzema is enjoying another prolific campaign and theReal striker will look to play off Fernandinho, the smaller of City’scentre-backs.

Elsewhere, Casemiro will need to find a way to prevent KevinDe Bruyne from dictating the game. The Belgian maestro has provided 19 assistsin all competitions so far and Zidane will know stopping De Bruyne is key tostopping City.

Goalscorer Odds

Sergio Aguero missed a penalty at Leicester but he remains the 16/5 favourite to open the scoring and add to the 21 goals he’s netted this season.

Benzema at 4/1 is the most likely first goalscorer for Real and you can get him at 7/5 to score anytime. Raheem Sterling has scored 10 times in his last 13 Champions League games – get him to score anytime at 11/5.

Real captain Sergio Ramos loves a Champions League goal and as first-choice penalty taker, he’s 4/1 to score anytime. And after netting a late winner at Leicester, super sub Gabriel Jesus is priced at 5/1 to score the last goal of the game.

View the latest Real Madrid v Manchester City odds.

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication