Football Bet of the Day: Can City score four against Real Madrid again?

Wednesday night is all about the Champions League. Both English clubs are in action as Arsenal travel to Germany to take on Bayern Munich, while Manchester City host Real Madrid in a simply gargantuan clash. After thrilling first legs, parity reigns over both ties, which means it is all to play for in the second legs. 

For our Football Bet of the Day for Wednesday April 17, we are taking a look at the game at the Etihad Stadium, where we are backing Pep Guardiola’s side to get on top of Real Madrid.

In the 2022/23 Champions League semi-final, Manchester City blew Real Madrid away in the second leg, at the Etihad. The scores were level after a draw at the Santiago Bernabeu and yet Guardiola’s side were able to hammer Los Blancos 4-0 on the night, barely giving their opponents a sniff. 

I’m expecting something similar to unfold on Wednesday night, albeit with Madrid posing a bigger goalscoring threat this time around. Contrary to popular belief, the atmosphere at the Etihad on these sorts of occasions is fearsome, and they’ve shown on multiple occasions that they have what it takes to bully teams into submission.

Interestingly for this pick, they’ve also been in fine goalscoring form of late. City scored five against Luton last time out, three against Real Madrid, four against Crystal Palace and four against Aston Villa in their last four fixtures. That’s 16 goals in total, or an average of four per game. 

We need them to match this average for this 9/2 to be a winner, but I’m actually relatively happy with that price. Phil Foden is enjoying the best goalscoring season of his career having scored five in seven Champions League matches, and he has now scored 22 in all competitions this season. 

Meanwhile, Erling Haaland will be keen to prove his worth once again, and take advantage of a Real Madrid backline that is missing stand-in centre-back Aurélien Tchouaméni for this second leg. It means Nacho is likely to start in the middle with Antonio Rudiger, and that could weaken Carlo Ancelotti’s back four slightly. 

City scored three goals at the Bernabeu last week so I don’t believe it is outlandish to suggest that they can score four on home soil - especially given we saw how Madrid crumbled here last season. The attacking quality of this City outfit, plus the ambition of attempting to win back-to-back trebles, could see them put in another outrageously good display. 

With Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne also providing a serious goal threat, I cannot see a world in which Real Madrid stop them from producing in the final third. If City get their noses in front, the away side will be forced to come out and attack, which could work in the Citizens' favour. 

They are going to need a dose of luck if they are to get past the self-appointed historical kings of Europe. But I think we could see something pretty spectacular in east Manchester on Wednesday night. Goals are on the agenda, and City are heading towards another Champions League semi-final.

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