UEFA Champions League - Betting tips for first leg of semifinals - ESPN

The UEFA Champions League semifinals commence with matchups Tuesday and Wednesday. The second leg will take place next week, followed by the final.

With all that in mind, let's get to this week's games. As always, remember that these bets are for results at the end of regulation only.

Odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook

Real Madrid and Manchester City will battle it out for a spot in the June 10 final. Real Madrid will be led by the strong trio of Karim Benzema, Vinicius and Rodrygo. However, they will be facing what might be the best team in Europe in Pep Guardiola's Man City club. Who do you like to win this leg, and what other props are you playing?

Paul Carr: City have been the best team in Europe this season, and Real Madrid have a case as second best, despite sitting third in La Liga and trailing Barcelona by 14 points. Among teams in the top five European leagues plus Champions League, only City have a better expected goal difference than Real Madrid's +46, which is narrowly ahead of Napoli, Bayern and Barcelona. City have had more possession (64%) than any other top European team this season, and as proved time and again, Real don't need the majority of the ball to create chances. When these two teams met in last year's semis, Real had 43% possession and a nearly equal expected goals total (3.9 to City's 4.1). I can't go against Real Madrid's Champions League devil magic yet. Ideally, I want to parlay the Real Madrid double chance with over 1.5 goals to get to +105. If your book doesn't allow that, I'd settle for the straightforward Real Madrid win at +215.

Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S.