Follow the Champions League knockout stage journey and read our latest predictions and picks on Europe's biggest soccer competition...
Only four clubs remain in the UEFA Champions League, seeing a meeting of local rivals from Italy and a repeat of last year’s semi-finals.
Manchester City, the outright favourites to win the trophy at -150, meet the reigning champions, Real Madrid, while Inter and AC Milan will battle it out over two legs at their joint home stadium.
Here’s a quick look at the qualification odds before we dig into the full preview and betting odds for the 2022/23 UCL Semi-Finals.
Best UCL Odds to Qualify for the Final
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Manchester City to Qualify -303
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Real Madrid to Qualify +220
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Internazionale to Qualify -133
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AC Milan to Qualify +100
Manchester City vs Real Madrid Preview
To get to the UCL Semi-Finals, both Manchester City and Real Madrid secured statement victories in their first legs of the Quarter-Finals.
Having triumphed over Bayern Munich 3-0, City went to Germany to stifle the Bavarians, succeeding with a 1-1 tie at the Allianz Arena. Real Madrid replicated their 2-0 home win at Stamford Bridge to oust Chelsea 4-0 on aggregate.
It leaves two of the early favourites of the competition and the two favourites at this point facing each other in the Semi-Finals. Last season, it was a very similar story, but now, City have Erling Haaland.
Just a year ago, Los Blancos came back from 4-3 to win 2-1 in regular time at the Bernabéu and then 1-0 in extra time to book a ticket to what would prove to be the club’s 14th Champions League trophy.
Now, the two are almost perfectly tied head-to-head, with three wins to each, two draws, and Real Madrid only pipping City 13-12 in the goals column.
This Real side is built to win the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti knows exactly how to do so, and the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Karim Benzema, and Vinícius Júnior are all eying up yet another medal.
However, Pep Guardiola – still without a UCL triumph with City – has a stellar record against Los Blancos, winning 12 and drawing four of his 21 meets with the Spanish club. He’s also strong against Ancelotti with a 5-0-3 record.
On paper, City narrowly looks to be the stronger team, especially if their Norwegian striker stays on form. Still, Real Madrid continually find ways to progress in this tournament.
Manchester City vs Real Madrid Betting Odds
This UCL semi-final will see the games played on Tuesday, May 9, in Madrid and then in Manchester at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, May 17.
As it stands, City are favoured to come out of the two legs with the lead at -303 in the soccer betting lines. However, they’re not overwhelming favourites to win at the Bernabéu at +120 to the home team’s +215.
For the Cityzens, Haaland has only been kept off the score sheet on 15 occasions from 43 appearances, and only twice in the Champions League.
With 49 goals so far, it seems unlikely that he won’t score or set up a goal – as he has done eight times this season – and as Real Madrid have only failed to score at home twice this season, both teams to score at -166 looks a strong choice.
📌 CONFIRMED KICK-OFF TIME!
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) April 20, 2023
🆚 @ManCity
🏆 Semi-finals
🏡 09/05 | 21:00 CEST
✈️ 17/05 | 21:00 CEST
#️⃣ #UCL pic.twitter.com/Th3uBGA295
Inter vs AC Milan Preview
In a rivalry dating back to 1909, the Derby della Madonnina – or Milan Derby – is one of the biggest in the sport and is only fuelled further by the co-residency of the clubs at the San Siro.
To make for this all-Milan UCL Semi-Final, Internazionale returned home with a 2-0 win, but saw their aggregate 5-1 lead begin to evaporate in the last ten minutes to end the second leg 3-3. That said, progress was rarely in doubt.
AC Milan had to face Serie A runaway winners Napoli, but came into the first leg with bragging rights, having crushed the Ciucciarelli 4-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona just ten days earlier.
Not only did AC Milan take the first leg 1-0, but Napoli had to end the game with ten men.
In the second leg, back in Naples, penalties for both sides failed to hit the back of the net, Olivier Giroud put the Rossoneri up before halftime, and it took until the 93rd minute for vaunted super striker Victor Osimhen to equalize.
Against a true onslaught in the second leg, AC Milan proved that it’s not just their attacking fluidity that lands them wins: they’re also defensively stout, and Mike Maignan can be a brick wall when needed the most.
The battle in Milan will be hard-fought, and while the Nerazzurri are favoured and have pocketed the two most recent games, closely matched derbies have a way of getting out of hand.
Inter boss Simone Inzaghi happens to have a narrow losing record against AC Milan at 7-6-8 but has mostly had the upper hand over their manager, Stefano Pioli, boasting nine wins and four ties in 18 meets.
This season, the scores read 3-2 to AC Milan in Serie A, 3-0 to Inter in the Suppercoppa Italiana, and 1-0 to Inter in Serie A on February 5.
Monumental Mike Maignan ✌️#MilanNapoli #UCL #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/5pUVbxrabF
— AC Milan (@acmilan) April 12, 2023
Inter vs AC Milan Betting Odds
Home and away doesn’t come into play in this tie, with the May 10 and May 16 matches both taking place at the San Siro.
This tie really could swing either way, but in sport betting circles, Inter are narrowly ahead as the favourite at -133 to AC Milan’s +100 to qualify for the UCL Final.
Given how close the game is and how Inter have been able to shut out AC Milan in their last couple of meets, a somewhat cagey affair to not give too much ground in the first leg could be expected.
As such, under 2.5 goals at -162 – the first below-evens odds of the lines – looks appealing, as does the tie no bet lines of -125 for AC Milan or Internazionale at -111, depending on if you favour the reds or blues.
Good morning, semi-finalists 👋#ForzaInter #UCL #InterBenfica pic.twitter.com/WiXMFg0r1e
— Inter (@Inter_en) April 20, 2023
Manchester City vs Real Madrid may be seen as the coronation of sorts for the eventual winners, but the action at the San Siro looks to be the closer and more hotly contested of the ties. Regardless, neither tie is to be missed.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 26th January 2023
