Champions League: Real Face Tough Fight for Round of 16 Spot

Real Madrid vs Borussia Monchengladbach

Despite a largely disappointing Champions League campaign, Real Madrid’s round of 16 hopes are still in their own hands. All they have to do is beat Borussia Monchengladbach at home in their final Group B game to go through to the next round.

However, that will be much easier said than done as the Germans have put up some highly impressive performances during the group phase.

Gladbach were quite unlucky not to beat Real at home in their first meeting after going two goals up. But while the Champions League 2020 betting odds will be against them to win away in Madrid, they can still help send the record winners of the competition home early.

Talking Points

Sergio Ramos set to return to Real defence

Real Madrid snapped their run of two consecutive losses over the weekend as they got a big 0-1 away win at Sevilla. Although, it was still another unspectacular performance as they needed a catastrophic error by Sevilla goalkeeper Bono to score their winning goal.

Real have found it quite tough to score of late. They’ve got just six goals in their last six games, two of which were own-goals and one was a penalty.

After being on fire prior to his injury, star striker Karim Benzema has yet to find the back of the net in his two games since returning, while Brazilian youngsters Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. are still struggling to establish themselves in the side.

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Serie A

But with Eden Hazard injured once again, manager Zinedine Zidane has no choice but to start two of Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Marco Asensio out wide against Gladbach.

On the bright side, though, Real Madrid are expected to receive some much-needed reinforcements in defence in the form of Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal.

Ramos has been sidelined for the past five matches due to a hamstring injury he suffered on international duty, and his absence has had a negative effect on Raphael Varane’s play. The Real captain’s return to the heart of the Madrid defence should be a major boost both to Varane and the entire side.

Meanwhile, the return of the experienced Carvajal at right-back could also be crucial for Real as they look to limit the impact of Gladbach’s Marcus Thuram, who gave Madrid many problems down the wing in their first meeting.

Gladbach in good position to go through

Borussia Monchengladbach’s up-and-down form in the Bundesliga continued as they could only draw 2-2 away to Freiburg over the weekend. Alassane Plea, fresh off his brace in their 3-2 Champions League defeat to Inter, scored again in the second half to salvage a point.

But while Gladbach have been inconsistent in the league, their performances in Europe have been much better. Although, they could still be left to rue their first two Champions League 2020 results against Inter and Real, where they only drew 2-2 despite leading late in both matches.

Champions League: Alassane Plea managed to score in Borussia Monchengladbach's two previous matches — Alassane Plea celebrates with Borussia Monchengladbach teammates after scoring against Inter Milan

Manager Marco Rose made a few changes to his side against Freiburg with this big match in Madrid in mind. Marcus Thuram, who scored twice to put Gladbach 2-0 up in their first meeting against Real, played just 26 minutes and should be set to return to the starting XI in Spain.

As the current group leaders, Gladbach find themselves in the best position to qualify as they just need to avoid defeat against Real to go through.

With Real in need of a win, Gladbach can just sit deep to defend and patiently wait for counterattacks. And as they showed in their first meeting, they can be deadly on the break with the pace of Plea and Thuram.

History

This will be the fifth head-to-head matchup between Real Madrid and Borussia Monchengladbach. Gladbach looked set to seal a famous win over Real in their first group match of this year’s Champions League after two goals from Marcus Thuram, but Real struck back with two late goals from Karim Benzema and Casemiro to claim a draw.

That was the third draw in the five meetings between the two sides, with each club winning their respective home leg in their UEFA Cup tie in 1985.

Betting Tip

	Real Madrid vs Borussia Monchengladbach	Borussia Monchengladbach Asian Handicap +0.50 @ 2.25
	December 10, 04:00 (GMT+8)

Despite their recent struggles, SBOTOP odds still have Real as significant favourites at 1.72 to beat Gladbach at home and reach the round of 16. Meanwhile, the visitors are priced at 4.30 to beat Real and a draw is at 3.90.

It’s hard to trust Real at the moment given their current form. Their attack remains unimpressive, while the defence looks quite vulnerable to the pace that a side like Gladbach can exploit.

With Real needing to attack, this match looks perfectly suited for Gladbach to pick them apart on the counter and eke out at least another draw. That is why the Germans are quite good value on the Asian Handicap market, so snap them up.