Real Madrid can beat Manchester City in another high-scoring Champions League classic

Manchester City’s eye-popping 4-0 victory against Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday was the perfect tonic ahead of their daunting trip to the Bernabeu Stadium to face Real Madrid in a must-win Champions League blockbuster. But trailing 3-2 after the first leg of their play-off duel when they continued a worrying trend of surrendering late goals, memories are still painfully fresh of their struggle to overcome League One Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, the 5-1 battering by Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, the 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain and the 2-2 draw at Brentford when they conceded a couple of late goals.

A hat-trick from new signing Omar Marmoush against Newcastle, with Nico Gonzalez, another January recruit, shining in midfield raise hopes City can create an upset against a Real side who have stuttered in recent weeks, surrendering top place in the Spanish table when Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano on Monday night. But City have won just one of six matches at the Bernabeu and the fear is they will be carved open as they press forward in search of the goals needed to take them through to Friday’s draw for the last 16.

Their trips into Europe have not been fun this season with their last three away games ending in a 4-1 defeat at Sporting, a 2-0 loss at Juventus and that terrible effort in Paris – and only Ipswich and Salford failed to score against City in their ten games before the Newcastle rout. But Madrid havekept just two clean sheets in their last 11 games so it’s all pointing to another high-scoring match with both teams going full throttle for victory.

Over 4.5 goals is the banker bet at 15/8 with Paddy Power and Betfair, with Real Madrid to win and both teams to score not far behind at the same price with Sky Bet. Another 3-2 triumph for Los Blancos is 14/1 with bet365, Betfred and BoyleSports while Jude Bellingham is 23/10 with Unibet and BetMGM to score at any stage for the hosts with reliable Phil Foden 23/10 with SpreadEx to reply for City. Fighting on four fronts cost Jurgen Klopp in his final season in charge at Anfield with Liverpool winning the Carabao Cup, then falling short in their pursuit of silverware in their other competitions as fatigue took its toll, and it is possible history will repeat itself under Arne Slot.

The Reds have looked shaky in the last couple of weeks, crashing out of the FA Cup at Plymouth before dropping two points at Everton when James Tarkowski thundered in that terrific 98th-minute equaliser, and there were some jittery moments as Wolves pressed for what would have been a deserved equaliser in front of the Kop on Sunday. A rough trip to Aston Villa, for a match brought forward from next month because Liverpool have reached the Carabao Cup final, is certain to have fans biting their fingernails as pressure builds on the Premier League leaders and two more points may be dropped when the sides are all-square at the final whistle.

The draw is 3/1 with Coral, Betfred, Betway and bet365 and 2-2 is 12/1 with the latter. Cody Gakpo is not fit to return from injury to bolster Liverpool up front but Mohamed Salah is 29/20 to score for the seventh game in a row, with Morgan Rogers 4/1 with Sky Bet to hit his fifth goal in as many matches. • There’s plenty at stake at Kenilworth Road with both Luton Town and Plymouth Argyle desperate for the victory to aid their fight for Championship survival.

The Hatters have taken just two points from the last 30 available while the Pilgrims have wins against West Brom, Liverpool and Millwall and a draw at Sunderland to their credit in their last five matches. That makes eye-bulging odds of 4/1 with Paddy Power, Betfred and Betfair irresistible despite Argyle not having won away from Home Park in the league this season. Arrow MORE: England boss Thomas Tuchel allowed to work from home in Germany and skip matches.

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