UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid vs. RB Leipzig Preview, Odds, Prediction

Real Madrid continues its UCL title defense against RB Leipzig at Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night. The Spanish and the European champions host the German powerhouse, which hasn’t been quite convincing since the season started. Los Blancos are massive favorites against the Bulls, but as we saw in the past, the Champions League delivers surprises on a regular basis. Both units are coming off wins earned this weekend, ready to continue at the same pace.

Preview

Real Madrid (-205) had some struggles against Mallorca this Sunday afternoon, and they would even trail at one moment during the opening half. However, such an unpleasant situation didn’t last for too long, with the Los Blancos leveling the score quickly and, after that rolling over the guests from the Mediterranean islands. In the end, the result was 4-1 for the champs.

They have had eight consecutive victories since the year started, counting the one in the UEFA Super Cup over Eintracht. In all of these victories, Real netted at least twice or more, proving that they have one of the best offenses in Europe.

In four of the previous five events Real played, both teams have netted, and even though many believe that Los Blancos’ defense has problems, that simply isn’t the case. They are overexposed frequently, but that’s mostly when Real has the lead and the forwards want to have some fun.

RB Leipzig (+500) defeated Borussia Dortmund this weekend, snapping back-to-back losses and bouncing back following an extremely rough pair of events. They would lose in Frankfurt to Eintracht, 4-0, and then at home, against Shakhtar, 1-4.

So a 3-0 triumph over the Millionaires came quite handy for the Bulls, to boost the morale a little bit and encourage both the fans and the players. RB was clinical during those 90 minutes performing rationally and without unnecessary complications.

Just two of their nine competitive events this year didn’t see three or more goals. When on the road, Leipzig isn’t confident at all, with one win in the DFB Pokal over lower-tier team, Teutonia. Other than that, RB played 1-1 in Stuttgart, lost 2-1 to Union Berlin, and 4-0 to Eintracht.

Latest News

Karim Benzema, the top favorite for the Golden Ball, is out for the home team. Militao and Odriozola are out as well.

Dani Olmo and Lukas Klostermann were out for RB’s previous game, and they aren’t sure for Real.

Head to Head Games

There haven’t been any games between these two teams so far. Wednesday’s one will be the first official.

Prediction

Real is very confident at home, and overall, the Los Blancos dominated all the games this year regardless of the venue. They display very efficient football, rational when it comes to energy consumption, with a system implemented by Ancelotti, which can’t be solved that easily.

RB is shaky, having more games they haven’t won than the triumphant ones during the campaign. Our pick is Real because Los Blancos want to secure the knockout stage as soon as possible, so they can rest in the final rounds of the group stage. Those who are more courageous go with Real -1.5.

Pick: Real Madrid -205

Here are more previews for the UEFA Champions League games.

• Manchester City vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Glasgow Rangers vs. Napoli
• Liverpool vs. Ajax 
• Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona