Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur Predictions

Tottenham must pick themselves up after a narrow defeat against Manchester United, though it is their Spanish opponents who’ve got a real recovery job on their hands. Real Madrid have failed to win any of their three pre-season games (in 90 minutes), while they come into this fixture off the back of an embarrassing 7-3 loss against city rivals Atletico.

Before Friday’s game, Madrid had been sluggish in pre-season; they really struggled to get to grips with Bayern first time out, while their defensive efforts continued to be poor against Arsenal, though that was nothing compared to what happened against Atleti.

Real had looked soft touches at the back before their game against Simeone’s well-oiled machine, but “soft-touches” doesn’t do Friday’s catastrophe justice. Pre-season friendlies often throw up strange results, but there’s absolutely no excuse for the shambles that was the Los Blancos’ back-line on Friday. Right from the word go, Atleti, who simply wanted it more, ran all over what really is an easy-to-breach Madrid rear-guard, while Simeone’s men also made light work of dominating in other key areas.

Zidane’s side have now defended poorly in each of their three warm-up matches, conceding a whopping total of 12 goals. Their defensive problems show no signs of disappearing, which bodes well for a Tottenham side that has already looked useful in pre-season.

Spurs did lose to Man United last time out, but it was a close game, while they did get on the score-sheet and created other opportunities. Prior to that defeat, Mauricio Pochettino’s men scored three on route to beating Italian giants Juventus. Frankly, if they can replicate that performance then it would be a surprise if they didn’t seriously hurt Real.

In the betting, Real continue to go into games as favourites. Ahead of this match, they’re priced around the 10/11 mark, which is tough to accept given that they were simply obliterated just a few days ago. After defending so poorly against Bayern, Arsenal and Atleti, Zidane’s men really don’t warrant such a short price. At the same time, Spurs, who looked strong against Juventus and who delivered promising spells against United, look too big. Punters shouldn’t be put off by the prices on offer as Real went into their last game as warm favourites and we all know how that panned out.

It may be the case that Real finally get their acts together in Munich on Tuesday but based on what we’ve seen from this pair over the last couple of weeks, Spurs are the only team to side with at the prices.