30 April 2024 , 20:55
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If you need a hand with this week's lottery numbers then you could do worse than give Daniel Sturridge a shout.
Okay that might be something of an exaggeration, but for the former Liverpool and England forward clearly knew what he was talking about prior to Bayern Munich facing Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday evening.
Like the rest of us, Sturridge was watching on as Harry Kane's (and Eric Dier's) Bayern took on Jude Bellingham and Real Madrid, and just a minute before kick-off the 2019 Champions League winner offered his prediction for the game.
Just one minute before kick-off Sturridge took to his X account - come on, we all still call it Twitter - to tweet: "Sane will be a big problem tonight. Goal for him and a pen for Kane." He then followed that up six minutes into the match with: "I’m leaning 2-2. Could be 3-2 Bayern if their bench go off. Goals galore."
That prediction of "goals galore" looked in trouble in the early part of the match when Bayern dominated, only for Real to take the lead against the run of play when Toni Kroos freed Vinicius Junior to race clear and slot past Manuel Neuer.
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It was in the second period when Sturridge's soothsaying came into its own though, and the ex-Reds star saw both Leroy Sane and Harry Kane find the net within four minutes of each other.
German international Sane, the former Man City star, cut inside from the right and buried what was remarkably his first goal in 28 games past Real goalkeeper Andrey Lunin, before Kane scored from the penalty spot after a foul on Jamal Musiala.
Sturridge's prediction then got even more accurate when Kim Min-jae gave away a penalty for a foul on Vinicius Junior, who picked himself up to score from the spot for the leveller.
Real will now be big favourites for the second leg as they take a draw back to the Santiago Bernabeu, with the Spanish giants seeking to close in on a 15th European crown. We wonder what Sturridge thinks will happen in that one!
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