By Antony Jordan
The final pair of first leg matches from the last 16 stage of the Champions League play this Wednesday evening and while many of the biggest names remaining in the competition have already played their first knockout stage games these final two games still have plenty to offer in excitement and intrigue.
We preview the clashes of Sevilla v EPL champions Leicester City and Porto versus the Italian champions Juventus with online sportsbook Bet365.com to provide our best Champions League picks of the evening.
Sevilla v Leicester: 1.40 – 4.75 – 10.00
The first meeting of these Spanish and English sides see the two teams in very different places domestically, yet they both are doing battle for a place in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. Sevilla are third in the Spanish Liga, just three points behind table toppers Real Madrid, while the current Premier League title holders are struggling as they are 17th in the league and are just one point above the relegation zone – and they were knocked out of the FA Cup by third tier Millwall at the weekend. Will this match go the way of these two team’s domestic form and how the match odds suggest it’ll go?
Sevilla had a reasonably good time of things in the group stage of this competition with three wins and two draws in their six games as they followed Juventus out of Group H and they have kicked on from there. Following a 0-0 draw with Lyon in their final group game they have won eight and drawn two of their ten matches in league and cup, with only Real Madrid and Espanyol defeating them. Both of these losses came on the road and their home form has seen only Barcelona and Juventus defeat them in 16 games this season. They have won 12 of the other 14 clashes in front of their fans, including winning five and drawing two of their seven since November, and they will surely be a tough side to defeat this Wednesday evening.
Leicester have zero form at the moment and have lost six of their last eight games in all competitions, with the only avoidance of defeat since the start of January coming in the FA Cup where they drew with Derby and then knocked the second tier side out after extra time in a replay. In fact their only successes in 2017 have come in the FA Cup and they have not won in the league since New Year’s Eve. However, they have impressed in Europe this season with them topping Group G with four wins and draw in their six games, losing only to Porto in their final match when they rested players as they had already booked their place in the this round of the tournament. They are certainly capable of producing an upset, as last year’s EPL title showed, but which Leicester side are we likely to see in this clash?
Leicester certainly have been much better in Europe than on home soil in England, but with their confidence shot to pieces and goals having dried up with them failing to score in six of their last eight matches, this will be a very difficult match against a very good Sevilla side who excel in front of their own fans. We see goals in this one alongside a home win for the Spaniards.
We are backing Sevilla to beat Leicester AND Over 2.5 goals to be scored at odds of 2.05 with Bet365.com.
Porto v Juventus: 3.60 – 3.25 – 2.25
These two sides have not faced each other on the European battlefield since the 2001/02 season when they clashed at the group stages. Juventus claimed four points in those two games as they drew 0-0 in Portugal and then triumphed 3-1 back in Italy, but both of these sides come into this clash in excellent form and we are confident that this will not be as easy for the Italian league leaders this time around.
Porto come into this match on the back of six straight victories and having lost just one of their last 17 games, home and away, since November following their exit from the cup on penalties. These matches have seen them keep ten clean sheets and while this is a good record, they have been even better when just considering home form as they have not lost at the Estádio Do Dragão all season. On top of this they have already seen off the side sitting second in Serie A as Roma were defeated 4-1 on aggregate in the Play Off round to qualify for the group stages so you can be sure that the Portuguese side will not be short on confidence for this clash.
Neither will the visiting Italians believe that they cannot win this match as they have won seven games in a row and have lost just one of their last 15 clashes, although this does include a penalty shootout defeat in the Italian Super Cup to AC Milan as well. They have won nine and lost only away to Fiorentina since missing out on that trophy, and they have bounced back well from that loss with five clean sheets in those seven games since collecting zero points. In Europe they keep three clean sheets on their travels as they drew with Sevilla then defeated Dinamo Zagreb and Lyon on their way to top spot in Group H. Will they be able to keep that up in Portugal?
We see this being an excellent match between two very good and committed sides and we feel that this game could easily be won by either team we believe that both teams will be difficult to break down. As a result of this we can see both teams being happy with not being behind at the halfway stage of the tie, although Juventus will be the more happy to the two with this, and we are backing this game to end level in Portugal.