Real Madrid, Monaco, Atlético Madrid and Juventus to meet during Champions League semi-finals.
Cardiff (the capital of Wales) will host the winners of semi-finals and host them on National Stadium of Wales during 2017 UEFA Champions League final on 3rd of June.
Draw results set rivals for 1st leg on 2 May: Real Madrid to host Atlético and on 3 May: Monaco to meet Juventus. The return leg will happen on 9th and 10th of May.
Real Madrid – Atlético Madrid
When: Tuesday 2 May 2017, 19:45 UK time
Where: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
Madrid games while UEFA Champions League semi-finals to be as competitive as teams’ previous meetings during past years. Fourth season in a row the teams will compete within Champions League for the name of one of the strongest teams not only in Madrid, but on the European level.
In each of the last three seasons Real Madrid ended Atlético Madrid’s UEFA Champions League hopes to win. Atlético lost twice during UEFA Champions League finals in extra time and in penalty series. Both of the finals were rough with great desire to win on both sides. In the 2014/15 quarter-finals Real achieved victory 1-0 at home after 0-0 away.
Both of teams are awaiting to win like never before. Real Madrid are last year Champions League winners and aim to oust Atlético again.
Zinédine Zidane’s Real are obvious favorite of the upcoming meeting after their victory over Bavaria. In addition key players are in and team is playing at home. Recent loss in home match vs Barcelona is not supposed to spoil team spirit. Further more, confident victory over less of principal rival (Valencia) is a good chance to recover score in front of Real’s fans and will not prevent Real from being prepared for semi-finals with Atlético.
Atlético Madrid are already not able to reach first place in the Liga like Real or Barcelona could. Diego Simeone’s team are comfortable enough in Champions League with third place in chart. Minimal task for the season is to be considered as achieved. Meaning that now Atlético efforts could be concentrated on Champions League preparation only and not to grant victory to their neighbors club Real Madrid.
Considering past meetings of Madrid teams, Atlético cannot boast of big successes. Game draw with Real at Santiago Bernabéu venue is not a good answer to loss at home 3-0. But still there is another game Las Palmas (mid chart of the Liga) v Atlético Madrid before match with Real.
In spite of mentioned above, Atlético Madrid are a strong team and have a high level line-up. Key to the team’s success is a strict discipline. Whether players stick to the set plan and would not make bungles, Diego Simeone’s team would be able to confront with its insurgent spirit and make the game hard for Real.
No doubts match is worth seeing. This game is expected to bring great intrigue and interest. You can check out Shangri La odds on the Atletico – Real game here
Projection:
Matches of these two teams statistically are not goal rich. Real Madrid is expected to beat Atlético with higher probability and with one goal. Low scoring should be expected in this game.
Monaco – Juventus
When: Wednesday 3 May 2017, 19:45 UK time
Where: Stade Louis II, Monaco
In our opinion, the more interesting match in semi-finals and fans are expecting full of action match from this pair of teams. Monaco are obviously breakthrough of this Champions League draw. Since 13 years, Monaco again found themselves in semi-finals of key European tournament. Juventus are perceived more confident and far more powerful comparing to previous seasons. Game is going to be tricky from the very beginning to very end.
Monaco team is having a successful year, besides of Champions League semi-finals, team of Leonardo Jardím are on the first position of League One and have reached semi-finals of Coupe de France. Also Monaco are the top scorer team in Europe and demonstrating high-velocity and dynamic football. On their way to play-off, Monaco left behind such teams as Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City with no not so much struggle.
Before Monaco to meet Juventus, they are to face not very plain match in Coupe de France semi-finals against PSG with Monaco’s key line-up. After 29th of April, Monaco will host Toulouse and it has to win in this game, as Monaco and PSG has equal scoring in Championship right now. There is a chance that this tough game will get the team of Leonardo Jardím worn out. Hopefully coach will let younger line-up of Monaco team play and lets key players rest for Juventus games.
Monaco’s advantages would be variety of young players with talent, good techniques and home advantage.
Favorite in the pair is Juventus by several reasons. Team of Massimiliano Allegri demonstrates a high quality level of football. Decent defense in connection with great lineup in the midfield is achieving great results. Juventus are #1 in Italy. It left the key competitors far behind and is leading in Coppa Italia finals.
Juventus’ agenda is not so overloaded as Monaco’s. This could grant an advantage to the Italian team. Before meeting with Monaco, they will play away with Atalanta B.C. on 28th of April. This means team of Massimiliano Allegri to have more time to rest and prepare for semi-finals.
For the upcoming match we expect plenty of shots on goal and goals. Game is expected to be high-paced and with high pressure around gates most of the time. More excitement could be reached with a win on the game with good betting odds at shangrila.com.
Prediction:
Teams are to score more than 3 goals in total. It is expected Monaco’s intensive agenda to influence their results in the game. Juventus to win, 3-1 or 2-1.
