Last year's finalists meet in the Round of 16

The two teams met in the final of the UEFA Champions League last season. At that time, the Spaniards narrowly won 1-0. This year they meet again in the round of sixteen. Once again, the royals are traded as easy favorites, which is primarily due to Liverpool's modest season so far. However, at Anfield they are still seen as easy favorites.

The premier class already offers some highlights in the round of 16. One of them is certainly the duel between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid. These two teams faced each other in the finals last season. The Spaniards narrowly prevailed 1-0. Also this season they are considered to be one of the favorites for the title. Liverpool, on the other hand, is struggling enormously this year and is only in the middle of the table in the Premier League. 

Of course, in a game they can beat any opponent. They've also been a real force at Anfield for years. This is probably also the main reason why they are slightly favored by bookmakers. Real Madrid will primarily want to create a good starting position for the second leg.

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Liverpool analysis

The Reds are not having a good season. In the Premier League, the club is only in 8th place in the table and would therefore not currently be qualified for international business. After all, in the Champions League they managed to make it into the round of 16 relatively confidently. As tables 2.- of group A you have to compete with Real Madrid. Spanish teams have not necessarily been considered favorite opponents of Liverpool FC in recent years , as was shown in last year's final when they lost 1-0 to Real Madrid.

After all, the team has gotten a little better in the last few weeks and the list of injuries is getting smaller again. They won their last two games in the Premier League and two attacking players celebrated their comeback in Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota. They now want to take this momentum into the Champions League.

What should of course accommodate Liverpool in the first leg is the fact that they are playing at home. Despite not having a good season this year, they are still among the best home teams in the league. In the home table they are in 4th place in the Premier League with a record of 7 wins, 3 draws and only one loss . With a goal ratio of 25:9 hits, you even have one of the strongest defenses here. Virgil van Dijk also returned there on the last matchday. The Reds suffered their only home defeat in the league this year against Leeds United on Matchday 14. They have not been beaten in their last 4 home games, they were able to win 3 of them. During this time, Liverpool only conceded 2 goals.

Although the team had to settle for 2nd place in Group A, they played a strong group stage. After all, they won 5 out of 6 games and scored an average of almost 3.00 goals per game. They conceded their only defeat on the first matchday away against SSC Napoli (4:1). The following 5 games could all be won and they only allowed 2 goals against. The last two games were won by a total score of 5:0 against Napoli and Ajax. 4 out of 6 group games ended with more than 2.5 goals due to a strong offensive. In the end, they were only 3 points short of taking first place.

Real Madrid analysis

The Royal League and the Champions League just fit together. No team is anywhere near as successful as Real Madrid in this competition. That's why they're among the absolute top favorites for the title again this year. In the league, however, as with the opponent, things are not going perfectly. Although the team is on a secure 2nd place, they are already 8 points behind leaders Barcelona. This is also due to the lack of consistency. They also conceded all 3 defeats in the league away from home. It certainly won't be unfortunate in Liverpool, which is why their primary goal will be to create a good starting position.

Los Blancos will have confidence in their offense. One statistic where Real Madrid is number 1 in Spain is in goals scored. With 46 goals in 22 games, they are the strongest attacking team in the Spanish league. On average, you are responsible for a little more than 2.00 goals per game. In 2023, however, they missed to score in 2 games. Both against Real Sociedad at home and against RCD Mallorca away they failed to score. In general, however, you also know where the goal is away from home, which is also underlined by the 24 goals in 12 away games this season.After a short phase of weakness, they were able to win the last two league games again with a total score of 6:0 goals. Also at the FIFA Club World Cup they prevailed in 2 games against El Ahly and Al-Hilal.

Real Madrid have accumulated fewer points than Liverpool in the Champions League group stage. Los Blancos took 1st place in Group F with 13 points after 6 games . But you were less successful than your opponent. In addition to 4 wins, you also had to deal with a draw and a defeat. Both point losses were accepted away. In Donetsk, the equalizer only came at the last minute. In Leipzig they had to admit defeat with 3:2. In 6 games, Real Madrid only conceded 6 goals, but only managed to keep a clean sheet in 2 games. The Royals scored at least one goal in every group game. A yield of 15 hits is good, but not outstanding.

The club haven't had a real first XI in recent weeks and coach Carlo Ancelotti has certainly tried one or the other experiment. However, this rotation could now come to an end, because in the Champions League the coach will bet on his strongest players. The club also has hardly any injuries to complain about. The only noteworthy failure at the moment is left-back Ferland Mendy. In his place, David Alaba recently took the position of left-back. With Toni Kroos and Aurelien Tchouameni, two players are currently out due to illness. Whether they will be used on Tuesday is not yet certain.

Liverpool - Real Madrid: What to expect? 

The two teams have met a total of 6 times in the Champions League since the 2014/15 season. A total of 4 times they faced each other in the KO phase and 2 times even in the final. Liverpool haven't won any of their last 6 duels against Real Madrid and have only got one point in total. In the quarter-finals of the 2020/21 season, it was enough to draw 0-0 at home. In Madrid they conceded 3rd defeats in a row. The only time Liverpool could prevail was in the 2008/09 season. At that time they met in the round of 16. Karim Benzema in particular likes to score against Liverpool with 4 goals.

This top game has no clear favourite. Real Madrid are certainly the more stable team this season, but Liverpool have the home advantage on their side. However, based on the last direct duels, we would slightly prefer Real Madrid. A double chance X/2 bet is therefore a possibility. Both teams have a very strong offensive individually. However, we don't think they will risk everything in the first leg and Real Madrid in particular are more cautious. We would therefore expect less than 3.5 goals .

• Double Chance X2
• Under 3.5

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.