Sports Blog 18/04/2017: Leicester v Atletico Madrid, Champions League quarter-final second leg, Tuesday, 18th April 2017

Leicester will need to breach one of the meanest defences in European football as they bid to overturn their 1-0 quarter-final first leg deficit against Atletico Madrid tonight.

The visitors have recorded seven clean sheets in their last nine outings in all competitions and have only conceded 24 goals in 32 games in domestic league action (the lowest in La Liga).

However, the Foxes have suddenly woken up in front of goal since Craig Shakespeare took charge netting 19 times in 9 games under their new boss after failing to score a single league goal in 2017 before that.



The notable exception in terms of scoring under Shakespeare was in that Champions League quarter-final first leg in Madrid last week.

So do Leicester have what it takes to continue their remarkable European journey?

Well the Spreadex traders clearly don’t think so giving the Spanish side the advantage with a spread betting Goal Supremacy of Atletico/Leicester (h) 0.5 – 0.7 (this means you’d sell at 0.5 if you felt the game will be a draw or Leicester will win).

And the fixed odds match odds have Diego Simeone’s men as 5/6 favourites with Leicester 7/2 and the draw 13/5.

If Leicester are to make the breakthrough then perhaps an early goal could be on the cards?

Tonight’s spread of first Leicester goal is 59 – 62 but in the eight games that City have scored in under Shakespeare, their first goal time has come in well before the 59th minute on seven occasions (28th minute v Liverpool, 27th minute v Hull, 27th minute v Sevilla, 5th minute v West Ham, 25th minute v Stoke, 4th minute v Everton and 6th minute v Palace).

The other thing spread betters may be looking at is Corners, quoted at 9.7 – 10.2. Leicester have averaged a measly one corner per game in their last five Champions League matches while Atletico have themselves averaged just 5.8 per game in their last five Champions League outings.

The other match is something a bit special too as Bayern Munich look to come back from a 2-1 first-leg deficit away at Real Madrid.

Bayern had been 1-0 up through Arturo Vidal who then missed a penalty before Javi Martinez saw red allowing Real to come back to win via Cristiano Ronaldo’s double.

The Goal Supremacy for this one has the hosts as small favourites at Real/Bayern 0.15 – 0.35 with the fixed odds Real 13/10, Bayern 15/8 and the draw 3/1. With Bayern seemingly having to go for broke here as away goals are also against them, the Spreadex traders are sensing there could be plenty of goals.

Total Goals are pitched at 3.5 – 3.7, Total Goal Minutes at 176 – 191 and Time of 1st Match Goal at 27 – 30.