After taking the initiative in the first legs of their Champions League round of 16 ties, both Tottenham and Real Madrid should be able to finish the job off in Tuesday’s return fixtures.

Confidence boost for Tottenham

Spurs may have lost to Burnley and Chelsea, and been a little fortunate to draw with Arsenal, since they beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 three weeks ago but their German opponents have also been struggling of late.

Friday’s 2-1 defeat at Augsburg means Dortmund are in danger of handing the Bundesliga title to Bayern Munich. Lucien Favre‘s team have only won one of their last five league games since they thrashed Hannover 5-1 at the end of January.

Dortmund to come up just short

Spurs are attempting to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 2010/11 campaign, while Dortmund are involved in the round of 16 for the fifth time in the last seven campaigns.
Although Dortmund knocked them out of the Europa League in 2015/16, Mauricio Pochettino’s side gained revenge last season when they beat Borussia 3-1 at Wembley and 2-1 in Germany in the group stage of the Champions League.

Spurs can afford to lose the second leg and still qualify for the quarter-finals and, although that may cause a few nails to be bitten among the London side’s fans, it seems the most likely scenario.
Pochettino’s team seem certain to play for a draw in Dortmund but will be more than happy with a narrow defeat. A 2-0 win for the German team can be backed at 9.50 while the draw is good value at 3.80.

Ajax have missed their chance

Real Madrid may have suffered two defeats to Barcelona in the last week but they should have too much quality to knock Ajax out of the competition.

The Dutch side certainly worried Real in the first leg in Amsterdam but, as has so often been the case in the Champions League in the last few seasons, the Spanish outfit still managed to ride their luck and grab a 2-1 victory.
Even though Sergio Ramos is suspended for the second leg, it would be a surprise if Los Blancos did not clinch a routine victory on Tuesday as they continue their attempt to win the Champions League for the fourth campaign in a row.

Real have beaten Ajax in each of the last seven matches between the two teams and are attempting to reach the quarter-finals for the ninth successive season.

Real remain the team to beat

In contrast, Ajax are involved in this stage of the competition for the first time since 2005/06 and appear to have missed the chance to cause a major upset by knocking Real out this term.
They have thrashed NAC Breda 5-0 and Den Haag 5-1 since the first leg against Real and have scored an impressive 82 goals in their first 23 Eredivisie games of the season.

Ajax may be able to grab a goal in the Bernabeu but Real should have little difficulty easing into the quarter-finals once again. A Real Madrid victory and both teams to score can be backed at 2.45 while looking ahead, the Spanish side are good value at 10.00 to win the Champions League this season.

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