My feet are really big!
By Antony Jordan
The final pair of first leg matches from the first knockout stage of the Champions League plays this Wednesday evening in the Ukraine and the Netherlands with Dynamo Kyiv v Manchester City and PSV Eindhoven versus Atlético Madrid. Both of the away sides from England and Spain are favoured to bring an advantage back home, but can the home sides upset the odds in this first game from the last 16 stages of the Champions League?
We preview both of these matches with online sportsbook Unibet.com to find out the best value for our Champions League picks on these Wednesday night clashes.
Dynamo Kyiv v Man City: 3.40 – 3.35 – 2.23
Dynamo Kyiv welcome Manchester City to the NSK Olimpijs’kyj this Wednesday night for their first competitive match in two and a half months looking to continue the poor form that the EPL team have shown at this stage of the Champions League in their past. City have been drawn against Barcelona in both of their previous experiences in the knockout phase of the competition and were beaten home and away, but Unibet certainly see them changing this record as the side currently sitting fourth in the Premier League are the favourites to win here despite losing their only previous match on this ground in the Europa League Quarter Finals five years ago.
Clearly City are a better side than they were five years ago and after resting many of their players for the FA Cup match at Chelsea that saw them beaten 5-1 at the weekend they will be raring to go in Kyiv this Wednesday evening. However, this defeat to the outgoing EPL champions was their third defeat in a row and they have struggled in recent times, which is why the owners of the club have taken the decision to replace manager Manuel Pellegrini with Pep Guardiola in the summer. However, City are both scoring and conceding goals of late and with Dynamo having not played a competitive game since the start of December they will be solely focused on this match. We can see them giving City a run for their money and as only Chelsea defeated them in the group stage we can see this being a close, but goal filled, match.
Will City win this one? It is very likely, just as the odds suggest, but we feel that the value on this match is on goals to be scored.
Our top Dynamo Kyiv v Man City tip is back Over 2.5 goals to be scored at odds of 2.06 in the Unibet Sportsbook!
PSV v Atlético Madrid: 4.80 – 3.40 – 1.87
The final match that we’re looking at from the first leg clashes in the Champions League sees a meeting of the sides that top the Dutch Eredivisie and sit second to Barcelona in Spain’s La Primera Liga. Atlético are the odds-on favourites to bring an advantage to the Spanish capital after the 90 minutes at the Philips Stadion and they have history of victory in Eindhoven too with a 3-0 victory on their last visit in 2008 when Sergio Aguero bagged a brace. The Dutch side eliminated Manchester United from the Champions League so they will not fear big names at any stage of this competition, but can they upset the odds to win this last 16 stage clash?
As well as their lack of fear in the Champions League PSV bring some excellent form into this match as they have suffered just one defeat in their last 21 matches since suffering an away loss to group winners Wolfsburg in October in this competition. They have won all of their seven league games since the winter break to move to the top of the Eredivisie, losing only to Utrecht in the cup, and they have recorded three clean sheets before welcoming the 2014 Champions League finalists to the Philips Stadion this week.
Atlético ended January with two draws and two defeats, but February has seen them rebound well with two wins and a draw in their three matches so far. Their defeat against Barcelona in their final match of last month saw them miss the chance to challenge the biggest side in the country for the title and they are now eight points adrift, although they are ahead of Real Madrid in third place. They have been a little hit and miss with scoring goals this season, but with 11 goals in their six Champions League group matches this season they have done well in this competition and with them reaching the final and the quarter finals over the last two seasons in this competition we can see them putting everything together for this match and holding the advantage for the second leg in three weeks time.
Our best PSV v Atlético Madrid bet is back the away win @ 1.87 with Unibet.com.