Manchester City vs. Real Madrid odds, prediction

Manchester City and Real Madrid begin their two-leg Champions League semifinal on Tuesday afternoon. City is a prohibitive -200 favorite on the three-way moneyline for the first leg, with Real Madrid coming back at +525 and the draw sitting with odds of +333. BetMGM has City at -225 to advance to the Final, with Madrid at +155. 

Madrid’s best path to success in this fixture is to sit back and allow City the lion’s share of possession. Manchester City faced a similar predicament in its quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid, but opted for a conservative approach and was able to ride out some bumpy moments en route to a 1-0 victory across the two matches. 


Manchester City
Manchester City will likely possession against Real Madrid.
Getty Images

Real Madrid will offer more going forward than Atletico did, but because Madrid won’t press City and will likely just rely on a defensive posture and try to hit on the counterattack, this match should be pretty low-event, as City won’t want to risk making a mistake and giving Real Madrid’s clinical offense many chances on the counter. 

There are only so many paths this match could follow. A bet on the Under 2.5 (+110) or even a punt on the game ending 0-0 at +1150 are worth exploring. And if you’re into live-betting, taking a live Under if there’s an early goal is also a viable strategy for this encounter. 

The play: Manchester City-Real Madrid Under 2.5 goals.