Real Madrid will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in Group D when they continue their 2021-22 Champions League campaign at home to Sheriff Tiraspol on Tuesday night.
Los Blancos recorded a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in their section opener earlier this month, while Sheriff recorded an impressive 2-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk, with the visitors currently top of the group.
Match preview
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Real Madrid have made an impressive start to the 2021-22 season, picking up 17 points from their seven La Liga matches to sit top of the table, while as mentioned, they opened their European campaign with a 1-0 victory over Inter at San Siro on September 15.
Carlo Ancelotti's side were held to a goalless draw by Villarreal in the league on Saturday, but it has been a strong opening to the campaign, and another European victory on Tuesday night would place them in a strong position to reach the knockout round of the competition.
Los Blancos reached the semi-finals of last season's Champions League, ultimately losing to winners Chelsea over two legs, and they will be expecting to advance deep into the tournament once again despite a quiet summer transfer window amid their financial problems.
Real Madrid have actually only won five of their last 12 home European fixtures, suffering four defeats in the process, but it would be one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition if they were to lose to competition debutants Sheriff at the Bernabeu.
Comfortably the most successful team in the history of the European Cup, Los Blancos have lifted the famous trophy on 13 occasions, including in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 during a dominant period.
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Sheriff, who won a sixth successive Moldovan league title last season, are competing in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history, and they ran out two-goal winners over Shakhtar in their section opener on September 15 courtesy of goals from Adama Traore and Momo Yansane.
The Wasps actually started their 2021-22 Champions League campaign at the start of August and have had to beat Teuta Durres, Alashkert, Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb to advance to this stage.
Sheriff will enter this match having won four of their last eight away European fixtures, suffering just one defeat in the process, and it would be fair to say that they are a team used to winning football matches.
A strong start to their 2021-22 domestic campaign, meanwhile, has seen Yuriy Vernydub's side pick up 19 points from their eight league matches to sit third in the table, and they have three games in hand over leaders Milsami.
The visitors will also enter this match off the back of a 7-0 win over Dinamo-Auto on Saturday, meaning that confidence should be flowing in the camp as they head to the Bernabeu.
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Team News
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Real Madrid will again be without the services of Ferland Mendy, Dani Ceballos, Dani Carvajal and Gareth Bale on Tuesday evening through injury.
Toni Kroos and Marcelo could both be involved in the squad, although it would be a surprise if either started considering their recent injury problems.
Ancelotti could make changes from the side that started the goalless draw with Villarreal at the weekend, with Lucas Vazquez and Eden Hazard in line for spots in the first XI.
There could also be a role for summer arrival Eduardo Camavinga, with the Frenchman potentially taking the place of Marco Asensio as part of a midfield three alongside Casemiro and Luka Modric.
As for Sheriff, Lovro Bizjak will miss the contest due to a foot problem, but the visitors are otherwise expected to take a full squad to Spain for the group fixture.
There is every chance that head coach Vernydub could name the same XI that started the 2-0 win over Shakhtar earlier this month, where Cristiano starred from left-back with two assists.
Traore was on the scoresheet in his side's first Group D fixture and should again be joined in the final third of the field by Frank Castaneda and Jasurbek Yaxshiboyev.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Vazquez, Militao, Alaba, Nacho; Camavinga, Casemiro, Modric; Hazard, Benzema, Vinicius
Sheriff Tiraspol possible starting lineup:
Athanasiadis; Costanza, Arboleda, Dulanto, Cristiano; Kolovos, Addo, Thill; Traore, Yaxshiboyev, Castaneda
We say: Real Madrid 2-0 Sheriff Tiraspol
Sheriff are more than capable of making this an uncomfortable evening for Real Madrid, with the Moldovan outfit impressing in their two-goal success over Shakhtar. That said, we are finding it difficult to predict anything other than Los Blancos win taking everything into consideration.
Top tip
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 61.72%. A draw had a probability of 24% and a win for Sheriff Tiraspol had a probability of 14.28%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 1-0 with a probability of 16.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (13.7%) and 2-1 (8.86%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.72%), while for a Sheriff Tiraspol win it was 0-1 (6.5%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 3.5% likelihood.
