This morning saw the draw for the last-16 of the Champions League, and there are some absolute crackers to look forward to in February!
Real Madrid take on Manchester City in what is probably the most eye-catching fixture on show, while incumbent champions Liverpool face a tough trip to Spain to take on a famously resolute Atletico Madrid outfit, who are usually there or thereabouts when the competition nears its conclusion towards the end of the season.
There will be a repeat of the 2012-2013 final, too, as Frank Lampard once again goes up against German champions Bayern Munich – this time as manager of his beloved Chelsea. Elsewhere, last season’s finalists Tottenham host RB Leipzig and Barcelona visit Napoli, while Borussia Dortmund welcome Paris Saint-Germain to Signal Iduna Park, Juventus take on Lyon and Atalanta play host to Valencia.
With all these juicy fixtures on offer, the Betting Directory has taken a look at where the value could potentially lie prior to the last-16 fixtures kicking off. Here are three of our top picks:
Chelsea to qualify
Chelsea began this season so well, especially given the club underwent a major transformation over the summer. Frank Lampard was brought in as manager, thrown in at the deep end with little experience having only managed Derby for a season beforehand. The Blues legend has built a really promising, exciting young team at Stamford Bridge, though, impressing the footballing world in both the Premier League in Europe this season.
The west Londoners are currently experiencing a slight dip in form, but that’s to be expected when you’re competing at the very top level. They still carry a huge threat into this tie against an extremely experienced Bayern Munich side, and are priced favourably at 3/1 just to qualify for the quarter-finals. Bayern have been typically impressive throughout qualifying – largely thanks to their goal machine Robert Lewandowski, who has netted 10 goals in Europe already this term – but do have their defensive weaknesses which could easily be got at by Chelsea’s destructive front-line.
| Tuesday – 7.45pm | Odds | Bets |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 UCL Tip | ||
| Chelsea to qualify Best Bet | 3/1 |  |
Odds correct as of 2019-12-16 15:43:00
Tottenham to win & BTTS (first leg)
Spurs will be relatively happy to have avoided any of the huge hitters with their draw for the last-16 knockouts, though know that their opponents – RB Leipzig – do represent a tough challenge nevertheless. Jose Mourinho’s side were inconsistent throughout the group stages; one one hand they made lightwork of teams you’d expect them to beat with conviction – thrashing Red Star Belgrade 9-0 on aggregate – on the other, they were humiliated by Bayern Munich 10-3 across two legs.
The north Londoners also struggled to overcome Olympiacos, drawing with the Greek titans in September, before coming from behind to beat them in unconvincing fashion on home soil at the end of November. With this in mind, it’s not a given that they’ll make it through against a freely-scoring Leipzig side who found the net twice in five of their six qualifying group games.
However, now that Mourinho has had ample time to work with his new squad, we can’t see him bowing out at this early stage of proceedings. We also can’t see Spurs keeping a clean sheet in the first leg, though, which leads us to believe that a BTTS & win bet, priced at odds of 13/5, could be a terrific choice for this clash on February 19th.
| Wednesday – 8.00pm | Odds | Bets |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 UCL Tip | ||
| Tottenham to win & BTTS Best Bet | 11/4 |  |
Odds correct as of 2019-12-16 15:42:06
Barcelona to win the competition
Now, it’s still early doors and you may be reading thinking that this is all extremely premature. But, jumping on an outright winner at this early stage could prove to be a shrewd move as the odds are only going to get slashed the closer we get to the final. Barcelona are priced at 5/1 to win the tournament at the moment and face a Napoli side who have so far been less than impressive in this year’s competition.
The Italians were beneficiaries of a weak group, in truth. Reigning champions Liverpool were always going to win it, so it became a battle for second-place and Napoli claimed it with relative ease ahead of group whipping boys Genk and a spirited Red Bull Salzburg side, who will perhaps feel aggrieved to have not done a little better. Indeed, against a side containing Lionel Messi, Napoli are likely to come unstuck. Antoine Griezmann has also now started to find form for Barca and Luis Suarez is still regularly finding the net for the Catalonians (at home).
There are no standout favourites for this year’s competition, despite Manchester City being officially the shortest priced team. Huge question marks still surround the Cityzens this term though – especially defensively – while Liverpool’s primary objective will undoubtedly be winning their first ever Premier League title this time around, leaving the door wide open for Messi & Co. to take back control of Europe and right their disastrous wrongdoings from last season. At 5/1, they’re definitely worth adding to your season outright accumulator.
| Monday – 3.00pm | Odds | Bets |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 UCL Tip | ||
| Barcelona to win the Champions League Best Bet | 5/1 | |
Odds correct as of 2019-12-16 15:41:14