The 2017 International Champions Cup continues as Manchester City take on Spanish champions Real Madrid in Los Angeles.
Manchester City
City finished third in the Premier League last season and are hoping for a solid pre-season to prepare for another shot at challenging for the title. However, their pre-season got off to an awful start with a 2-0 defeat to local rivals Manchester United.
They now have this and one other match against Tottenham before departing the USA. This is their fourth consecutive ICC, although their past performances are nothing to write home about. In 2014, they finished third in their group despite not losing a game after 90 minutes. The following year, they finished bottom of the Australia section and last year they drew with Dortmund in their only match in China.
Real Madrid
The Spanish and European champions are looking for their fourth ICC title. They won their first in the tournament’s inaugural year. That was followed up by them winning both the Australia and China sections in 2015.
Last year, they won two of their three matches in the USA & Europe section but still only finished fifth of the ten teams who took part.
This year’s competition started off with a penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United, following a 1-1 draw. Casemiro netted an equaliser from the spot during the 90 minutes but missed during the shoot-out as United narrowly won it 2-1.
Head to Head
These two teams have met in four previous competitive matches, with two Real Madrid victories and two draws. All four of those matches have been close though, with Real’s two wins coming via a single goal.
In the first meeting, in September 2012, City scored in the 85th minute to give them a 2-1 lead. However, an 87th minute equaliser from Karim Benzema was followed by Cristiano Ronaldo netting a last-minute winner.
The next two meetings ended level, 1-1 in November 2012 and 0-0 in April 2016. Most recently, in May 2016, it took a Fernando own-goal to give Real a 1-0 victory. Other than those four meetings, they met in the 2015 International Champions Cup in Australia. Real Madrid were much more dominant in that meeting, with a 4-1 victory on the way to winning that section.
Betting Odds and Predictions
The bookmakers have this down as a close game, with Real Madrid priced as slight favourites at odds of 1/1 with Sky Bet. Manchester City are 23/10, and the draw is 11/4.
That also means there isn’t much difference in prices in the Double Chance market. Manchester City or Draw is priced at 8/11, Real Madrid or Draw is at 30/100, and Manchester City or Real Madrid is priced at 2/9.
If you do want to bet on the match result, it may be best to use the Draw no Bet market. In this, City are priced at 11/8 and Real are 8/15. This may be lower odds but you would get your stake back if the game finishes in a draw.
With it being such a tight affair, it may pay to look at alternative markets in an attempt to make a profit. Backing a goal in each half looks a solid option, at odds of 1/2, whilst Both teams to Score is another option at 2/5. Both teams have great attacking options and do concede goals, so both teams should get plenty of chances to find the net.
For both teams to score and the game to end with a winner, regardless of who it is, you can get odds of 10/11 in the Both Score no Draw market.
Top Betting Tip
This is too difficult to pick a winner, so our top betting tip is a goal to be scored in both halves. Ladbrokes have this priced at 1/2 and it looks a better bet than taking a risk in the match result market.