Real Madrid v Chelsea: Expect plenty of goals in Michigan
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This pre-season isn’t proving terribly beneficial for many of Europe’s biggest clubs, but the latest instalment of the International Champions Cup pitches Real Madrid and Chelsea sides with much to improve upon.
The La Liga giants only began their summer friendlies versus Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday, and promptly lost 3-1.
Chelsea can at least call upon three pre-season games ahead of this clash at Michigan Stadium, but they didn’t exactly shine during a 1-0 win over Liverpool last time out, with Cesc Fabregas sent off.
Madrid were notably poor versus the French side however, especially in defence, and will be without the famed trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
But quality still oozes through Los Blancos, and Zinedine Zidane’s team are 13/10 favourites, with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea 19/10.
Michy Batshuayi could start for the Blues, having come off the bench versus Liverpool, with Conte still trying to work out his strongest XI.
Even if the football in this tournament hasn’t sparkled, today’s fixture will at least have the comfort of being held at a stunning venue.
Nicknamed ‘The Big House’ the Michigan Stadium is the largest sporting stadium in the USA with a capacity of 107,000.
Barcelona and Man United actually attracted a crowd of 109,318 two years ago, with only the Pyongyang Stadium in North Korea boasting bigger numbers.
Real’s defence looked pretty shaky versus PSG, one which could hand Batshuayi numerous chances should he start.
But with Alvaro Morata and Jese to call upon, Real still have plenty of attacking nous up front, and even without ‘BBC’, over 3.5 goals at 7/4 could be on the cards in Michigan.
And as is often the case in pre-season games, both teams have found the net more often than not in the ICC, and Chelsea are 15/4 to win with both teams to score.
But if you fancy Real to win a goalfest, then enjoy our pre-match price boost of Real Madrid to win and BTTS – was 5/2 NOW 7/2.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
