Raul, who is looking to add to his sisty-six Champions League goals on Wednesday(credit:
wikipedia)
Real Madrid host FC Zurich on Wednesday, where the question for punters is how many goals, and who will score them?
Real Madrid are back to the top of La Liga after a slight dip in form, and a win on home win on Wednesday night against FC Zurich should see them progress to the knock-out stages of this season’s Champions League.
Real are a prohibitively priced at 2/13 (Bet365) to beat Zurich, and punters may have to look to different markets to get value on the game. There is virtually no chance of the Swiss side springing a surprise, as they did against AC Milan, and odds of 13/2 (SkyBet) on a draw, or a massive 20/1 (SkyBet) on a Zurich victory reflect this.
Instead it may be better to look to the asian handicaps, where a Madrid win by three or more goals is 53/50 (PaddyPower). Real have already beaten Marseilles by three goals, and Zurich lost their away fixture to the French side a whopping six-one (50/1, SkyBet) so it is fairly safe to assume that in the Bernabeu, Real should be capable of winning by a convincing margin.
Manuel Pelligrini welcomes record signing Cristiano Ronaldo back into the Real squad after ten games out through injury. The Portuguese forward is 10/3 (SkyBet) to score the game’s opener, but if he doesn’t start, it is worth taking the same price, with the same firm, that Ronaldo grabs the game’s final goal, as he is sure to feature at some point.
Real Madrid beat Zurich five-two in the reverse fixture in Switzerland, and whilst it the home side can equal their goals haul, it is unlikely that Zurich will be able to breach the Madrid defence at the Bernabeu. A Real ‘win to nil’ is 5/6 with PaddyPower, and the Irish bookmaker could well have got their pricing wrong in that market.
If Zurich don’t score, then the question is simply, how many will Real manage? A five-nil home win is a best-priced 16/1 (SkyBet), and punters may wish to cover that, along with three-nil (7/1, Expekt) and four-nil (9/1, SportingBet) final scores. Those who think Zurich will ‘park the bus’ and try to keep the score respectable can get 11/1 (Boylesports) on a narrow one-nil victory for the home side.
Champions League record scorer Raul will be keen to add to his incredible tally of sixty-six goals in the competiton, and it is a brave gambler who will choose to ignore the odds against (11/10, Boylesports) that the Spaniard scores at any time on Wednesday. There may also be a spot of value in Brazilian attacking midfielder Kaka, who is 13/8 (Boylesports) on the same market. The Brazilian has four goals already this season, and won’t have many better opportunities to score in front of the Bernabeu crowd.
Recommendations
Anytime Goalscorer – Raul (11/10, Boylesports)
Win To Nil – Real Madrid (5/6, PaddyPower)
Asian Handicap (-2.5 Goals) – Real Madrid (53/50, PaddyPower)