Champions League Final Betting Guide
The club season ends on Saturday when Real Madrid and Liverpool meet up in the Champions League Final.
Madrid, the holders, are going for their third straight UCL crown while Liverpool, boasting the tournament's top attack, hasn't been in the final since 2007.
Looking across a variety of betting sites, which bets make the most sense for the big game?
Over/Under 3 Goals In Regulation (Over, -130 via topbet)
The over/under on goals scored in regulation is currently sitting at 3.0 on many popular betting websites, including topbet. Both Liverpool and Real Madrid are high-octane offenses, and both have defensive vulnerabilities.
In Liverpool’s Premier League matches this season, there was an average of 3.21 goals per game, and there was an average of 3.63 goals per game in Real Madrid’s La Liga matches. There have been four or more goals scored in each of Real Madrid’s last five games (all competitions), and there have been four goals or more scored in three of Liverpool’s last five matches.
The results during the season would point to the final being a goal-fest, and once the first goal is scored, this has the potential to become a wide open game, especially if Liverpool score first. Betting the over makes sense here, especially since it will take only three goals to get a push.
Ronaldo to Score Anytime (3/4 via Coral)
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in 10 out of 12 matches in the UEFA Champions League this season, and he has scored in 15 out of 27 matches in La Liga. Overall, this means Ronaldo has scored in 64% of his La Liga and Champions League games this season, but that rate has been much higher of late as he has scored in 14 out of his last 16 matches in La Liga and Champions League combined. Bayern Munich are the only team to prevent Ronaldo from scoring during this stretch, doing so in both legs of their UCL final clash, which is not surprising as Bayern have allowed only 28 goals in 34 league games during their Bundesliga campaign.
Conversely, Liverpool have conceded 38 goals in 38 games in the EPL this season. While that's far from terrible -- and Virgil van Dijk has been a huge addition -- it shows that they are certainly not as impenetrable as the Bayern back line. With Liverpool giving up six goals to Roma in the two legs of the semifinal, Madrid should be able to score, and Ronaldo is always a good bet. Plus, he'll take any penalty if the Reds are called for one.
Salah to Score Anytime (19/20 via Coral)
Mo Salah scored in 23 of his 34 starts in the EPL this season (68%), and he has scored in 8 out of his 11 starts in UEFA Champions League (73%). So, Salah has scored in almost 70% of his starts in league games and Champions League games combined this season, but you can get odds on him scoring at an almost even 1-1.
Obviously, Real Madrid are an uptick in competition, but Salah has shown he is capable of scoring against the best. The Egyptian superstar netted a goal in 4 out of 5 starts in the Champions League knockout stages -- including in both legs against EPL title winners Manchester City -- and scored goals in 6 out of 10 starts against the top-six teams in the EPL this season.
Even against the best competition, Salah has been scoring at a much better than 50% rate. Also keep in mind that while Real Madrid are a supremely talented team, they did concede 44 goals in 38 La Liga games this season, so it is not as if their defense has been playing at an elite level. Any odds on Salah to score at almost 1-1 certainly appears to be a bet worth taking.
