Real Madrid vs. Juventus: Champions League Final Odds and Pick

The European club soccer season comes to a close Saturday with that sport’s annual Super Bowl: the Champions League final, as La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid faces Italian top side Juventus. Both won their respective domestic leagues as well, meaning they already have qualified for next season’s Champions League.

Real Madrid is set as the favorite in Sports Interaction’s soccer odds.

Real Madrid vs. Juventus betting odds

Moneylines: Real Madrid +136, Juventus +197, draw +234

Total: 2.5

Date: Saturday, June 2, 2:45 p.m. ET

Location: National Stadium of Wales, Cardiff

Real Madrid

Real Madrid won the Spanish La Liga for the first time in five years and 33^rd all-time, while keeping arch-rival Barcelona – which had been the Champions League opening betting favorite at Sports Interaction – from winning it for a third straight season. Madrid hadn’t gone five straight seasons without a league title since 1981-85.

It was the first league title for coach Zinedine Zidane, the French legend who took over Madrid for his first head-coaching job less than 1½ years ago. Now Real looks for its third Champions League title in four seasons and first European/La Liga double in nearly six 60 years.

Zidane’s squad advanced to the final with a 4-2 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid in the semis. Real took the first leg 3-0 at home behind a hat trick from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, whose hat trick against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals made him the first man to score more than 100 Champions League goals.

Against Atletico, Ronaldo became the first player to with three career hat tricks in the Champions League knockout stage and tied Lionel Messi with his seventh treble in the competition overall. A Champions League victory, especially if Ronaldo has a big game, could clinch a fifth Ballon d’Or for Ronaldo as the World Player of the Year. He has admitted he wants to catch Messi, who has won a record five such awards.

Ronaldo leads Real Madrid with 40 goals in all competitions this season and has 10 in the Champions League, one behind Messi’s lead. Ronaldo is also second with six assists. He is a +126 favourite overall in Champions League Final odds to be an anytime goalscorer on Saturday.

It’s the 15^th Champions League final overall for Real Madrid, and no team has repeated in the CL era. Real beat Atletico in the penalty shootout last year after a 1-1 draw. It also won in 2014, 4-1 over Atletico. The fitness of one key player is in question Saturday and that’s Welsh star Gareth Bale. He could surpass Welsh legends Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush by claiming a third Champions League winners’ medal, but Bale has missed the past six weeks with a calf injury and admits he’s not 100 percent. Thus if Bale plays, and you know he wants to in his home country, it likely would be as a substitute.

Juventus

Juventus won the Italian Serie A title for a record-breaking sixth straight season. Especially impressive considering that when coach Antonio Conte took charge of the club in 2011, the Bianconeri were coming off back-to-back seventh-place finishes. Conte left in 2014 and was replaced by Massimiliano Allegri with the club not missing a beat.

Some believe this could be the best Juve side ever, and it would be hard to argue that fact if it wins the first treble in team history. That would be the Serie A title, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. Juventus is bidding to become the fifth team in nine seasons (all European leagues) to register a treble, but only the ninth in all. The last to do so was Barcelona in 2014-15.

It’s the ninth Champions League final for Juventus, which is 2-6 in the previous eight. It lost most recently 3-1 to that Barcelona side in 2015. The Bianconeri have nine wins and three draws in this season’s competition and are bidding to become only the seventh team to win the Champions League undefeated, and the first since Manchester United in 2008.  Juve advanced with a 4-1 aggregate win over French club AS Monaco. The second-leg tally for Monaco was the first goal Juve had allowed in six knockout matches in this season’s competition.

Gonzalo Higuaín leads Juventus with 29 goals in all competitions and five in the Champions League. He is the +139 favourite to be his side’s anytime goalscorer. However, the real star of Juve is goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who could steal the Ballon d’Or from Ronaldo with a clean sheet victory on Saturday. Juventus is the best defensive team in Europe and has allowed just three goals in 12 Champions League games.

This is the third La Liga side that Juve will face in this season’s Champions League. It drew 0-0 with Sevilla in Turin and then won 3-1 in Seville in the group stage. Juventus ousted Barcelona in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 home victory and 0-0 draw at Barca.

Real Madrid vs. Juventus Predictions

This will be the 19th meeting for the two clubs, all in this competition, and each have eight wins and three draws. Juve’s six losses in a Champions League final are the most in history. Madrid has won its past five finals, also a record. Real beat Juve in the 1998 final, the only time they met at that stage.

You couldn’t ask for a better matchup with Juve’s top defense against a Real side that leads the competition in goals. Meanwhile, Real kept only one clean sheet in this year’s competition. Ronaldo has scored in all four of his appearances against Juventus for Real Madrid, five goals in all.

Juve has been consistent all tournament, while Real Madrid has been hot-and-cold – it didn’t even win its group. I believe this ends in a 1-1 draw, which is priced at +460 on the exact score prop, with Juventus lifting the trophy and completing the treble. An alternative wager if you choose to be conservative would be Juventus at +102 on draw no bet (money back if draw, only lose if Real wins).