Madrid to blow Schalke away

[sake]

Ben Linfoot and Ian Ogg preview Wednesday's Champions League action as favourites Real Madrid look to book a quarter-final berth.

1pt Basel draw no bet v Porto

1pt Real Madrid (-2) v Schalke

Basel v Porto (1945 GMT)

Basel are looking to claim a spot in the last eight of the Champions League for the first time and if they are to do so, they will need to win this game in all likelihood. The Swiss finished second in Group B, 11 points behind Real Madrid who were 1-0 winners in Switzerland, Basel's last home game. The other fixtures at St. Jakob-Park ended in victories against Liverpool (1-0) and Ludogorets (4-0) and their home form has been their strength over the years. The Madrid defeat was only their second in 11 European games since the start of last season and seven of those games resulted in victories. Manager Paulo Sousa will have an intimate knowledge of their opponents and will be keen to fare better against them from the dugout than he did as a player when he ended up on the losing team in half the games. Porto are again flying high in Liga but sit four points off the pace being set by Benfica which is mainly due to their less impressive away form having won six and drawn three (lost one) on the road compared to the leaders' 8-1-2 record. Somewhat perversely, those troubles on the road haven't been replicated in Europe with an impressive Group stage campaign (they came top of Group H, five points clear of FC Shakhtar Donetsk) seeing them win at BATE Borisov and Athletic Bilbao while drawing at Shakhtar; they also beat Lille home and away in qualifying. Colombian Jackson Martinez is undoubtedly their danger man with 16 goals in the league and five in just four starts in this competition but Basel don't concede many on their home turf. The last time the Swiss title holders reached this stage of the competition they lost 7-0 to Bayern Munich in Germany but they had won the home leg 1-0 and a similar scenario could play out this time around. The only goal that they've conceded in this year's competition was Cristiano Ronaldos winning strike for Madrid and five games in last season's competition yielded opposition goals for only Schalke and Steaua while they memorably beat Chelsea home and away. With that in mind, under 1.5 goals is worth considering but with Martinez and Shkelzen Gashi, last season's top scorer in Switzerland and 13 to his name in the league this season, there are goals in both sides and it's no great surprise to see the 1-1 draw heading the correct score betting at 11/2. Instead, I'd rather take the in-form Swiss (nine league games unbeaten, winning seven) to maintain their proud home record but with the price circa 9/4 for the home win not overly appealing, I'd rather back them draw no bet at a perfectly fair 11/8.