Messi lift me higher!
This Tuesday evening’s football comes from two of the most world famous stadia around right now in the Camp Nou and the Allianz Arena as the Spaniards look to finish off the French champions from a 3-1 starting position and the Germans need to stage an almighty comeback in their hometown to surge into the Champions League Semi Finals from 3-1 down.
Will we see further surprises Europe’s premier football competition this Tuesday evening? We give our Champions League picks on the best value markets. All odds are provided by Betfair.com.
Barcelona v PSG: 1.40 – 5.00 – 8.50
After netting a trio of away goals at the Parc des Princes in Paris, with Neymar opening the scoring before Luis Suarez added a brace in the second half, Barcelona will feel that they already have one foot into the final four stage of the Champions League for this season. With them bring five straight wins, including victories over Manchester City, Real Madrid and Valencia, and 15 goals in the five home matches before this vital clash at the Camp Nou you can hardly blame them for thinking this either. They have suffered just a single defeat in their last 17 home games, winning all of the other 16, and with Barcelona stronger than the first leg with the return of Dani Alves coupled with Suarez, Neymar and the jewel in the crown of Lionel Messi all forming a perfect three pronged attack right now you’ve got to side with the people at Betfair Sportsbook.
PSG are missing captain Thiago Silva and his namesake Thiago Motta for the match, both through injury, as well as the suspended Serge Aurier but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti back for the side from the French capital they will be far more creative and threatening in this second leg. They have won five of their last six matches, losing only this first leg, and while they will certainly offer more this evening we cannot see them getting anything from this match as we see Barcelona doing what they did in the group stage and cruising to another comfortable win.
Our Champions League Picks: Back Barcelona to win and there to be at least three goals in the match @ 1.75 with Betfair.com.
Bayern Munich v Porto: 1.33 – 4.80 – 10.00
Although Bayern Munich have made the semi finals of the Champions League in each of the last three seasons, they have to do something they have never done before to make it four out of four this year. They were beaten 3-1 in Portugal last week and the club is in disarray right now as Pep Guardiola blamed his medical team for the injury crisis that has beset the club, causing them to quit. They are still in big trouble player wise for this match with Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, David Alaba, Javi Martinez and Medhi Benatia all injury for this match. Philipp Lahm is likely to return from a virus and Bastian Schweinsteiger is a doubt despite training after injury.
Even with home advantage it will still be an uphill battle for the Germans to progress as their guests at the Allianz Arena put three goals past them last week and are in better shape injury wise with just the two full backs Danilo and Alex Sandro plus striker Cristian Tello out of the side. The failed to beat both Shakhtar and Basel on the road this season in the Champions League as they recorded 2-2 and 1-1 draws and this part of Germany will be far tougher as Bayern’s backs are to the wall. Even with the injuries that they have Bayern will still be a tough side to defeat once again, but Porto got their tactics spot on last week and we can see them making life difficult for the German champions by grabbing an away goal in this second leg.
Our Champions League Picks: Back both teams to score in this Bayern Munich v Porto match @ 1.80 in the Betfair Sportsbook!