Real Madrid vs Union Berlin tips: German newcomers out of their depth at Bernabeu

Real Madrid will kick off their Champions League campaign at home against Union Berlin, who are making their debut in the competition.

Real Madrid, who are currently in first place in La Liga with a perfect record after five matches, are coming off a 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad.

Union Berlin, who are in eighth place in the Bundesliga with six points after four games, lost 2-1 to Wolfsburg in their most recent match.

Carlo Ancelotti's team is seeking their sixth consecutive victory in all competitions this season after winning their first nine official games last season.

Die Esiemen competed in the Europa Conference League in 2021/2022 but failed to advance past the group stage, despite reaching the round of 16 in the Europa League the previous season.

Suggested bet: Over 2.5 goals

Urs Fischer's team began the season strongly, winning their first two games 4-1 against Mainz and Darmstadt. However, they then lost 0-3 to Leipzig and 1-2 to Wolfsburg.

This will be Union Berlin’s first official meeting with a La Liga club and they could have hardly been handed a tougher task.

In contrast, Real Madrid have played 76 matches against German teams, winning 37, drawing 14, and losing 25.

The Galacticos have not lost to a Bundesliga team in 11 consecutive matches, despite playing Borussia Dortmund four times and Bayern Munich four times in that span.

Carlo Ancelotti will welcome back Dani Ceballos to the squad on Wednesday and will also be hopeful that Ferland Mendy can play a part.

Suggested bet: Real Madrid -1.25 Asian handicap

However, Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao, Arda Guler, Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior won’t be available.

Real Madrid have relied heavily on Jude Bellingham and Joselu for goals at the start of the season, with the former scoring five and the latter two and both should start here.

Union Berlin's top scorers so far are striker Kevin Behrens with 4 goals and full-back Robin Gosens with 3 goals.

Both of them are available but the Germans will be without Andras Schafer, Laurenz Dehl and Rani Khedira, who is the brother of ex-Real Madrid player Sami.

• Sergiu Baltuta provides tips as SVB Tips on Tipstrr