Real Madrid travel to Anfield in confident mood

Liverpool come in to one of the biggest nights at Anfield for years in a less than confident mood, having lost their previous Champions League match away at Basel. Premier League progress has also been slow, scraping unconvincing wins at home to West Bromwich Albion and more recently away to QPR, the latter of which came courtesy of two own goals scored by opposition defenders.

Liverpool can not afford to lose ground on Basel in the group over the next two matches and they are 4/1 with bet365 to record a huge and moral boosting win against Real Madrid. If the home team are to defeat an in-form Real Madrid then they will have to do it without their biggest goal scoring threat, Daniel Sturridge, who is missing with injury. His recent replacement in the team, Mario Balotelli has really been struggling in-front of goal and missed some great chances on the weekend at Loftus Road. However, the Italian international has managed to find the back of the net at Anfield in the Champions League and he is 8/1 with BetVictor to score the first goal of the game. Liverpool`s strength at the moment appears to be their ability to break at pace on the counter attack, a style of play that helped them to seal the late win against QPR last time out. Raheem Sterling will be vital if Liverpool adopt this approach against Real Madrid and with Balotelli misfiring in front of goal, the Englishman might be pushed even further forward. Sterling can be backed at 10/1 with ladbrokes to get the first goal but the better value is the 7/2 offered by betfred for Sterling to score at any time of the match.

Real Madrid come to Anfield in great form and full of goals, having put another five past Levante on the weekend and they are 4/5 favourites to win the match with BetVictor and rightly so. Cristiano Ronaldo has been in sensational form so far this season and the fact that he alone has scored more goals in all competitions than the whole Liverpool team put together just goes to show what level he is playing at right now. The Portuguese star is available at 4/1 with ladbrokes to open the scoring in this one, having never scored at Anfield before in his career and will want to silence the cold reception he will receive given his history at Manchester United. Karim Benzema should make a return to the starting eleven and has netted five times so far this season in all competitions. The Frenchman is 6/1 with Coral to get the first goal of the game.

Despite being favourites for the match, Real Madrid are missing two key players in Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos and this will give Liverpool some hope and their best chance of getting anything from the game has to be the draw, priced at 10/3 with SkyBet. With the famous Kop behind them, anything is possible at Anfield and Real Madrid know this having been defeated there on their most recent visit.

However, it`s difficult to look beyond Real Madrid for this one and the 7/4 for both teams to score and Real Madrid to win looks tempting.

Go To bet365

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22/10/2014     © Frixo 2024