Champions League, Tuesday, 2/11/2025 at 9:00 p.m.
It’s a clash of two giants, a duel that comes much too early! When Manchester City and Real Madrid face each other on Tuesday, it’s hard to believe that one of the two clubs will not reach the knockout phase of the Champions League at all.
The playoffs are a new addition to the competition, and are included in our Champions League tips for the first time. My Manchester City Real Madrid tip is to give you an overview of what to expect in this game – because I don’t expect a home win!
The Skyblues are going through one of the most difficult phases in decades, but they definitely have to take the lead. At the same time, the guests have shown unusual weaknesses in the preliminary round, which makes it so difficult to analyze them accurately.
Of course, I have to provide you with sufficient evidence for my “double chance X2”. As you can probably already guess, I not only found current statistics on this, but also took a look at the history.
In my opinion, it is unlikely that the question of who will advance will be decided in the first leg. My tendency is therefore towards a very close affair, which will just give the Whites a slight advantage.
The bookmakers’ prediction
Manchester City are under pressure in every game due to the current very difficult situation, but they have never lost to Real Madrid in regular time. Therefore, the Skyblues are narrowly favored on Tuesday, with odds of 2.30 on average.
On the side of the Royal Family, odds of 2.85 are available to you. Of course, the fact that Real is still allowed to play the second leg at the Bernabeu plays a role here, so perhaps they are not yet going all out.
With the exception of one game, the direct duels in recent years have always been very close and sometimes dramatic. Since three of the last four ended without a winner, you should keep the draw in mind.
KI prediction Manchester City vs Real Madrid: ChatGPT’s tip
A duel between Manchester City and Real Madrid is of course also a special one for the AI. The three betting suggestions that ChatGPT presents to me are not all that high on my list of favorites.
To be honest, I don’t see the Citizens winning at home with a 0-1 handicap. Although the odds are above 3.00, City only won comfortably in the preliminary round against Slovan Bratislava, Bruges and Sparta Prague – and that’s a completely different caliber!
The medium-risk tip is for “under 2.5 goals”. In this duel, there were both spectacular matches and a few 1-1 draws, so I think that “under 2.5” is just as likely as its counterpart, “over 2.5”.
The fact that both teams will score here is considered inevitable by the AI – I have to agree without hesitation. Both teams conceded far too many goals in the group stage, so they won’t keep a clean sheet in a direct duel!
Analysis: Manchester City vs Real Madrid
The record champion in the playoffs – that shouldn’t go wrong! Real Madrid had of course imagined this CL preliminary round quite differently, but in the end ten teams were simply stronger.
Even the strong finish didn’t help when the royals scored three wins in a row with lots of goals against Atalanta (3:2), RB Salzburg (5:1) and Stade Brest (3:0). Before that, the record title holder had a few too many slip-ups.
0-1 against Lille, 1-3 against Milan and 0-2 against Liverpool? The two wins against the German representatives from Stuttgart (3-1) and Dortmund (5-2) were quickly forgotten. Real didn’t convince me from a defensive point of view.
Only against Brest did they keep a clean sheet, four times they conceded at least two goals. The results suggest a wild back and forth, so you can’t really explain the performances.
Vinicius Junior, who served his yellow card suspension against Brest, is the most dangerous man. He scored seven goals, but six of them came at the Bernabeu.
Odds analysis
Don’t fall behind! I can well imagine that both teams will go into Tuesday’s game with this motto. So it’s quite possible that the first half won’t produce a goal fest. If a maximum of one goal is scored, regardless of which side, you can get odds of 1.70 at Interwetten.
You should definitely play the free bet here, and it’s very easy. Copy the code “SkiWM25”, redeem it and get 11 euros – regardless of which sport you are playing.
City conceded two goals in the first half and twelve in the second – what a difference! That’s why I think the bet “Real score after half-time” is realistic, with odds of 1.57. If you go higher and say “Over 1.5”, the value increases to 3.65.
Finally, I think it’s likely that more will happen in the second 45 minutes in general, because the Madrilenians scored 15 of their 20 goals in that period. If this tip is correct, you can expect odds of 1.90.
Manchester City vs. Real Madrid: English teams? They suit Real!
The national dress rehearsal in the Primera Division was by no means an easy warm-up for Europe, because the Derbi Madrileno was on the program last Saturday. 1-1, a point for both, they could not distance Atletico.
Incidentally, it wasn’t until the penultimate matchday that Real managed to go into half-time with a lead for once. Nevertheless, does it still give them an advantage to start the knockout phase with a game against an English team?
For the past four seasons in the Champions League, an English club has been knocked out, with a total of seven teams eliminated during this period! Man City? Of course, they were among them.
Actually, the group stage started with results befitting their standing, after a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan, they first won 4-0 against Slovan Bratislava and then a little later 5-0 against Sparta Prague.
When we turned the calendar to November, a crisis began that somehow still hasn’t really ended. 1-4 against Sporting Lisbon, 3-3 against Feyenoord Rotterdam, 0-2 against Juventus Turin and 2-4 against PSG – that was nothing!
They conceded 13 goals and also squandered two- and three-goal leads. Against Bruges, City were then under enormous pressure, but at least they held out and secured a place in the playoffs with a 3-1 win.
So they’ve lost three times in a row away from home, which at least means they’re doing better at home. They drew against Inter and Feyenoord, and beat Bruges and Sparta Prague.
Of course, this duo cannot be compared to Real Madrid in terms of quality. A few weeks ago, the Citizens played against the underdog from Leyton in the FA Cup – and a 2-1 result doesn’t really sound like a top result!
To be fair, I have to say that the favorite had made a lot of substitutions, so Guardiola gave some stars a break. On average, exactly four goals were scored in the CL games at City.
But if you think the duels were spectacular from the start, you’re wrong. Only seven times did it ring in half one, but a full 25 times in half two! An insane difference, especially the twelve goals against during this period are confusing.
My Manchester City Real Madrid tip:
Real Madrid or Manchester City, which of these two top teams will secure the better starting position for the second leg of the play-offs? Both only impressed to a limited extent in the preliminary round, with the Skyblues having more problems.
Their defense in particular was severely affected, with the reigning Premier League champions regularly collapsing in the second half. It is clear that Real will want to exploit this fact on Tuesday.
I expect the little things to be crucial in this duel. However, since I no longer like the Citizens’ performances, I have decided to make the following tip:
Real will not lose at the Etihad!
