The stats that say Real Madrid will drub Schalke once again
Published:
It’s all going to be very familiar for Real Madrid when they return to defending their Champions League title this week, as they start on the same knockout path that their successful campaign of a year ago also began.
At the same stage of the competition 12 months ago, Los Blancos travelled to the Veltins-Arena and ended their tie against Schalke in half of the allotted 180 minutes with a 6-1 win.
The same trip is scheduled for the Spanish giants as they get back into UEFA-branded action and, with Ladbrokes marking them down as 2/5 shots to win their round-of-16 first leg, it seems the only question worth answering is: how many will they score this time?
Along with the history of their six-goal thumping of the Miners last year, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have been in fine scoring fettle leading up to their second trip to Schalke in as many years.
In 17 games away from the Bernabeu this season, Madrid have scored four or more goals in sixof them.
That includes an 8-2 romp over Deportivo in September and a five-strike blitz against Levante three trips later.
Schalke have hardly been watertight at the Veltins this season either, especially in the Champions League.
If lowly Maribor can find the net against the Germans, imagine how many Real’s glittering attacking stars will manage.
Then there’s the three they shipped at home to Sporting Lisbon on matchweek three, while the five Chelsea knocked past them in their final home outing of the competition’s group stage is perhaps the closest yardstick with which to measure Madrid’s potential scoring output by.
It all boils down to the low-hanging fruit that is the 29/10 on offer about Real notching four or more goals in Germany and a starting point for inevitable articles comparing this to Real Madrid’s 2013/14 triumph.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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