Sports Burst - Man City Set For Real Setback
Simple football logic suggests Manchester City to be mauled by Real Madrid in Champions League Bernabeu battle
by Tim Stannard
City set to suffer another season setback as Real Madrid pick up Clasico kicker
Real Madrid against Manchester City may seem complicated to forecast. But it's not. Real Madrid will win 4-0. It's a prediction formed through simple football logic.
Thinking caps on, please.
Barcelona held Napoli 1-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday in Italy. Napoli took a win and a draw out of Liverpool in the Champions League group stages, which clearly suggests that Napoli are better than Liverpool.
Tuesday's result makes Barcelona and Napoli better than Liverpool. Real Madrid held Barcelona to a draw at the Camp Nou in December which makes Madrid equal to Barcelona, therefore better than Liverpool as well.
If even more proof were needed, Atletico Madrid beat Liverpool last week. Therefore, Atletico Madrid are better than Liverpool as well. Atletico are 10 points behind Real Madrid in the LaLiga standings. So that automatically makes Real Madrid better than Liverpool in two different ways.
Liverpool are 22 points above Manchester City in the EPL table. Ergo, Real Madrid are stronger than Wednesday's Champions League rivals to a factor of four which equates to four goals in Sports Burst's impeccable calculations.
Simple really.
That's all tremendously bad news for Manchester City, a club that faces a ban from all European competitions for the next two years due to breaches in UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations and were relying on this year's shindig to go out with a bang.
By the way, City have officially lodged an appeal against the ban on Wednesday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
However, it's all tremendously good news for a Real Madrid side looking for a bit of a morale boost ahead of Sunday's El Clasico that's live on beIN SPORTS with coverage beginning at 1:30PM ET.
Another huge match-up is taking place on Wednesday on beIN SPORTS with the second leg of the Recopa Sudamericana final, the battle between the winners of the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
Flamengo's superiority in South America is under threat with the Brazilian team hosting Independiente del Valle with the tie balanced at 2-2.
That gets underway at 7:20PM ET on beIN SPORTS immediately following Liverpool in action. Honestly. Liverpool.
Sarri says Juve fans have right to travel to Lyon's den
Wednesday's second Champions League match does not quite have the zing of a Real Madrid 4-0 Manchester City, however there is a chance of an upset even if the odds may suggest otherwise.
Instead of being 15 points behind PSG at the top of the table, which would be respectable, Lyon are in seventh and a full 28 points. That's in comparison to visiting Juventus who are league leaders in Serie A.
However, Lyon can be more than decent on their day - which is all too rare - while Juventus have been a little sluggish at times this season.
The real world has become a key talking point in this particular encounter with 3,000 Juventus fans travelling to Lyon for the match from a region impacted by the Coronavirus.
Inter's Europa League game in Milan with Ludogorets on Thursday will be played behind closed doors with not even the media being allowed to attend, while five Serie A matches in next weekend's program will also take place without fans.
Rather than taking a pass on a question in regards to epidemilogical issues, Maurizio Sarri weighed in on the topic by declaring that "our supporters have every right" to attend the game.
The Sports Burst live show will be looking at both matches as well as reflecting on a rough night for Chelsea in the Champions League and a good one for Barcelona.
Go to our beIN SPORTS Facebook Page, YouTube channel and beIN XTRA channel for all the fun at 12PM ET.