Real Madrid are 11/10 to avoid defeat in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich and put themselves in a strong position heading into the return match.

Real find themselves in the unusual position of being the underdogs with Bayern 39/50 for victory at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night while the leaders of LaLiga are on offer at 18/5.

The German side suffered a setback on Sunday too when Mats Hummels was injured in training. The defender sprained an ankle and sustained ligament damage which means he will almost certainly miss the first leg and could also be forced to sit out the trip to the Bernabeu next Tuesday.

Real will hope they can take advantage of the absence of Hummels and look good value at 23/20 to progress to the semi-finals. Zinedine Zidane’s men are also available at 12/5 to reach the final and 21/4 to win the competition.

It is not all bad news on the injury front for Bayern, though, and coach Carlo Ancelotti may have some positive news with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer likely to return following a minor foot operation.

Top scorer Robert Lewandowski should be available, despite suffering a bruised shoulder in the 4-1 Bundesliga win over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, while Thomas Muller is back in contention after missing two games with an ankle problem.

Muller, who lifted the trophy with Bayern in 2013 and also finished runner-up in 2010 and 2012, cannot wait for the visit of Real and is optimistic about his side's chances of knocking out the holders.

“We're very confident,” he said. “It's a European cracker featuring two top teams. Of course we're really looking forward to it.

“We also notice it outside the club, not only in terms of the media but also when talking to friends or acquaintances in Munich. Everyone's talking about the game. We're well-prepared.”

Despite being two of the leading clubs on the continent, Bayern and Real have never met in the final of the European Cup or Champions League.

But they have been paired together 10 times in the knockout stages of Europe's elite club competition and the bragging rights are split down the middle with five overall wins apiece.

Real, though, will have fond memories of their last visit to Bavaria after trouncing Bayern 4-0 in the return leg of their semi-final three years ago en route to a comprehensive 5-0 aggregate success.

They enter Wednesday's fixture on the back of a nine-game unbeaten run although a six-match winning streak was ended over the weekend in a draw with city rivals Atletico.

Bayern were unexpectedly challenged by RB Leipzig in the early stages of this season but have opened up a 10-point advantage in the Bundesliga while they have looked in ominous form in recent weeks - not least in a 10-2 aggregate destruction of Arsenal in the previous Champions League round.

The match sees two of the best forwards in the world go up against each other as Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo take centre stage.

Lewandowski has bagged 15 goals in his last 11 appearances for Bayern, including Bundesliga hat-tricks in routs over Hamburg and Augsburg.

The 28-year-old has found the net 26 times in the German top flight this season while a record of 38 goals in 40 games in all competitions is astonishing.

Real need no reminders of Lewandowski's prowess after the Pole became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League game while representing Dortmund against them four years ago.

Ronaldo has only scored once in his last five matches for Real but a 2016/17 record of 26 goals from 36 appearances is commendable, if slightly below his usual output over the course of a season.

Lewandowski is the 11/4 favourite to open the scoring and is odds on, at 81/100, to hit the net at any time in the first leg. He is also 9/2 to score at least twice and 25/1 for a hat-trick.

Ronaldo is 7/4 to score, 23/4 for the opener and 9/1 for a repeat of the double he enjoyed at the same venue three years ago.

Real’s city rivals Atletico are also in Champions League action on Wednesday night as they host the outsiders in the competition, Leicester.

The Foxes are famously no strangers to upsetting the odds, though, and the bookmakers will certainly be wary of writing them off, with Leicester 33/1 to complete another fairytale success to match last season’s historic Premier League win.

Leicester are 19/5 to get through to the semi-finals while Atletico are the clear favourites at 9/50. The home side are 2/7 win the first leg while Leicester are 12/1 for the win and 14/5 to avoid defeat.

It could be argued that facing Atletico is the worst draw the Foxes could have been given due to their style of play, which should limit their favoured tactic of catching the opposition out on the counter-attack.

Atletico come into the tie in good form, too. They have lost just three times in their last 25 matches in all competitions - twice to Barcelona - and sit third in LaLiga.

Saturday's 1-1 draw at Real, thanks to Antoine Griezmann's late equaliser, left them 10 points behind their city rivals in the title race.

While Diego Simeone's men are unlikely to win the league for the first time since 2014 they have lost just four times at home, twice in LaLiga, this campaign.

They have also only failed to score twice in their last 25 games - the 0-0 draw against Bayer Leverkusen which set up their clash against Leicester and a 3-0 defeat at Villarreal in December.

They are 29/20 to score three or more goals on Wednesday, 5/2 to manage exactly two and 29/20 to be limited to no more than one.

Keeping Griezmann quiet will be key. The in-form France striker has scored seven times in his last nine games for club and country and is the hosts' biggest threat with 25 goals so far this term.

He is averaging a goal every 171 minutes in LaLiga and is 87/100 to breach Leicester’s defence or 51/20 for the first goal.

While Leicester’s interim boss Craig Shakespeare is new to the role, his opposite number Simeone knows what it takes to win European trophies.

He won LaLiga in 2014 - the first time the club were champions since Simeone won it with them as a player in 1996 - to break Real and Barcelona's stranglehold on the crown.

Simeone also clinched the Europa League in 2012 and guided the Rojiblancos to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016 - when they twice lost to Real.

The former Inter Milan midfielder has already warned his team to be wary of Leicester, though, saying: “This is a team that was able to win the English league. We know the game will be very tough against a rival that is similar to us.”

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