Football Tips: Paddy's 3 best bets for Liverpool v Real Madrid

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at the time of publication but subject to change

Liverpool face Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday night needing another special Anfield night to get them through to the next round. Jurgen Klopp’s side find themselves on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline after a mediocre showing in Madrid and need to be at their best to overcome Zinedine Zidane’s team on Merseyside.

If anyone can cause a surprise in Europe it’s Liverpool and their form has certainly improved of late. However this Madrid side are enjoying a run that has seen them lose just one of their last 15 matches. Can Liverpool cause yet another upset in Europe, even without their fans in attendance to help?

More importantly, can we squeeze some value out of the markets? Let’s have a look at the three Best Bets we’ve found for this Champions League quarter-final match.

Wednesday 8pm: Liverpool v Real Madrid
BT Sport 2 and BT Sport Ultimate

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Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool to Win & Both Teams to Score

We all know about Liverpool’s defensive woes at Anfield this season but let’s just illustrate it for this bet anyway. Liverpool have kept just two clean sheets over their last 10 home fixtures in all competitions and face a Real Madrid side who have only been kept scoreless in three of their last 25 away matches.

It’s hard to imagine that we won’t see Both Teams to Score landing, but we can get more out of the odds.

Liverpool are favourites largely thanks to their impressive home European record, which has seen them lose just one of their last 22 home fixtures in the Champions League (and another in Extra Time) and they’ve won four of their last five matches as well, seemingly putting their bad form behind them of late. Real are of course a formidable side, they’ve only lost two of their last 15 away matches (add an extra one for an Extra Time loss in the cup) but their away Champions League record isn’t exactly mighty, winning just five of their last nine on their European travels.

This Liverpool side have beaten Barcelona, Ajax, Porto, Napoli, PSG, Roma and Man City in knockout matches at Anfield over the last three seasons, and they can put another European powerhouse to the sword on Wednesday night.

Mo Salah to Score Anytime

Mo Salah has been pretty much the only consistently good thing about this Liverpool team all season. He’s got 19 goals over his 30 Premier League appearances and six in over his nine in the Champions League. But of course it’s a little bittersweet for Liverpool fans, not only is he the best thing about a team that’s been nothing but lacklustre all season, he’s now making flirty eyes at Real Madrid in the media. The vast majority of Liverpool fans are hoping this is just a ploy to get more money in contract negotiations. Time will tell.

Back to Salah’s stats though. He has four goals over Liverpool’s five most recent matches and in the Champions League has scored in all four of their most recent fixtures. With him being in such good form we have to give him the nod to get on the scoresheet at any time.

Half with Most Goals: Second Half

This Real Madrid side seems to have very little love for first-half goals when playing away from home. Over their last six matches on their travels in all competitions, they’ve only scored first-half goals in two of them. Over their five away Champions League matches this season they’ve scored a grand total of two first-half goals, scoring four in the second half.

The Liverpool of previous seasons have loved to come out fighting in the first half but recent form suggests the goals will come later in the game here. Over their six most recent home matches they failed to score a single goal in the opening 45 minutes and looking at their home European form they failed to score any first-half goals in any of their four home matches this campaign. With those stats we’re getting a very decent price here as we really should see most of the action occurring in the second period of play.