Real Madrid v Olympique Lyonnais
Football : Champions League 1/8 finals. Second leg.
Wednesday, 10th of March 2010. Kickoff 20:45

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Real Madrid

Real should get back to earth if they want to continue fighting for the Champions League. Los Blancos finally leveled on points with Barcelona after the emphatic 3-2 victory against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real not only showed great fighting spirit, but just left a very strong impression in general. If to put traditional defensive blunders aside – Manuel Pellegrini’s team is truly enjoying a scintillating run of form in La Liga. The question is: will they be able to bring it to the European stage?

The task ahead is very tricky. Having failed to score in Lyon, Real should get ready to produce a win with a two goal margin. Few people could disagree, if I said the visitors would eventually find the net on Wednesday night at least once. Under these circumstances, we have the perfect set-up for a memorable night of attacking football.

Real is without suspended left wingback Marcelo. Portuguese center back Pepe has been unavailable for almost 6 months now.

Expected formation and line up :
Real Madrid(4-3-2-1)
Casillas
Ramos, Garay, Albiol, Arbeloa
Kaka,Guti,Diarra,Van der Vaart
Higuain,C.Ronaldo

Unavailable
Marcelo,Pepe,Xabi Alonso,K.Benzema;

Lyon

Lyon couldn’t have asked for a better first-leg result at the Stade Gerland. 1-0 win gives Claude Puel a psychological advantage ahead of the kick-off and suggests that even an odd goal scored against Real would put immense pressure on the Spanish giants. It all goes down to the nerves: has Lyon the right guts to go out and finish the job in front of a packed house at the Santiago Bernabeu?

I have said it in the first preview and will repeat again: in my humble opinion, the French side does not have the required experience. Pjanic, Delgado, Makoun, Lloris and others – are only making a name for themselves in Europe. The statement is arguable, but still deserves to be. Moreover the winning mentality is long gone, the one which was there with Benzema and Juninho in the squad.

Expected formation and line up :
Lyon (4-1-4-1)
Lloris
Reveillere, Boumsong, Cris, Cissokho
Toulalan
Govou, Makoun, Pjanic, Delgado
Lisandro

Unavailable
Bastos;

Doubt
Cissokho,Lisandro;

Betting advice

Should Lyon score first at Santiago Bernabeu - it should definitely open the game up. French side will definitely take the same approach to the one used at Stade Gerland: intense pressing all over the pitch. Real obviously has problems dealing with physically strong sides, the ones which prefer to bully them around. So it might all go down to the referee, to the hardness level that he is going to set.

So my suggestion here is to go for goals, on the count that I just can't see Real not scoring against Lyon for 180 minutes.
The other bet to consider is "over 4.5 cards" offered by bet365.
If you find the line for "red card in match-yes" - could also be a good investment. Of course, with limited stakes.

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Over 3 goals @ 1.97 with Bet365(main bet)
Take Over 4.5 cards @ 1.61 with Bet365