Shakhtar v Real Madrid: La Liga champions will concede again

Shakhtar 8.415/2 v Real Madrid 1.392/5; The Draw 5.85/1
Tuesday 1 December, 17:55
Live on BT Sport 1

Real Madrid will be looking for revenge on Shakhtar on Tuesday, having been shock losers of the reverse fixture.

Back in October, the Ukrainians pulled off a surprise 3-2 win in Madrid, despite missing a large number of players who had tested positive for coronavirus. Real Madrid have done well to get their Champions League campaign back on course after such a disappointment and have not lost any of their three matches since (W2 D1).

If they can beat Shakhtar then Madrid will qualify for the last-16, but Zinedine Zidane’s side are incredibly inconsistent right now.

At the weekend they lost 2-1 at home to Alaves. Without a win in three La Liga games (D1 L2), Madrid have dropped down to fourth in the table.

Shakhtar are faring better domestically. They won 1-0 at Dnipro-1 at the weekend and are second in the Ukrainian Premier League, three points behind Dynamo Kiev. They have four points from as many games in the Champions League (W1 D1 L2) and need to recover, having lost both of their last two games against Borussia Monchengladbach by large margins.

Real Madrid’s title victory last year was built on defensive excellence. With Sergio Ramos currently injured, Madrid are struggling to keep clean sheets and its therefore not surprising that their form is so erratic.

They have conceded in nine of their last ten games. With Shakhtar having home advantage, they should be able to get on the scoresheet against a team that they scored three time against in the reverse fixture. Both teams to score is not a huge price at 1.684/6, but remains decent value.