UCL Tuesday Match Day 3 – 23rd October 2018
It is match day three of this season’s group stage of the Champions League and there are some big games coming up on Tuesday. Cristiano Ronaldo makes a return visit to Old Trafford with his Juventus side taking on Manchester United.
Manchester City are out in Ukraine hoping to avoid a repeat defeat from last season at Shakhtar Donetsk. Here are our top Champions League predictions and tips for Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018 on some of the games not involving the English sides.
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Hoffenheim v Lyon
German side Hoffenheim put on a good show on Match Day Two as they faced the might of English champions Manchester City. They gave a really good, positive account of themselves, opening the scoring as well in the fixture, despite losing 2-1. But they only shipped the hammer-blow goal three minutes from the end of the match. That followed a 2-2 draw out at Shakhtar in their opening group game in which they twice took the lead.
However, we are going to throw all of that out of the window and back Lyon to come up with the away win at 19/20 odds* (betting odds taken on October 21st, 2018 at 7:55 pm). Hoffenheim are winless in their last four matches in all competitions and don’t have a home clean sheet so far. Each of their last three defeats, including a loss against Eintracht Frankfurt on the weekend were by a 2-1 scoreline. Lyon have won two of their last three away games (L1) and the defeat can be scratched as it was at PSG last weekend. They have also scored at least two goals in three of their last four road games.
Roma v CSKA Moscow
The Giallorossi have a W3 L1 record at home against Russian sides. This is a huge home game for them as they are sat level on three points with Real Madrid after two games. Roma suffered a big loss at Real Madrid on match day one but have been given a lifeline with CSKA having taken a shock win over the Spaniards on match day two. Roma meanwhile took a 5-0 win over Viktoria Plzen on match day two with Edin Dzeko getting a hattrick.
Roma are W4 D1 L1 in their last six European home games so are going well there. They have scored at least two goals in all but one of those six games as well. As for CSKA they are W2 D2 L2 in their last six European away games and have just the one clean sheet in that sequence. So they are a little shaky on their travels and they are just W1 D1 L2 in four previous fixtures against Roma. But because they are competitive and have to be on a high after beating Real Madrid, we will back them to score. Roma to win & Both Teams To Score is at 15/8 odds* (betting odds taken on October 21st, 2018 at 7:55 pm).
Ajax v Benfica
Ajax are sitting at the top of Group E after two games, edging out Bayern Munich on goal difference. That is after they collected a very good 1-1 draw out at Bayern on match day two, building on their big home success over AEK Athens in their opener. So they seem a bit more competitive this go around and this is a big clash for them against Benfica. Another three points for the Dutch outfit would leave them in a strong position to finish in the top two.
Benfica lost at home against Bayern Munich and then found themselves in a struggle to beat AEK Athens on matchday two. They seem pretty shaky at the back and there has to be a very good chance for Ajax here. Ajax have won two of their three previous home games against Benfica but the last time they met was back in the 1972 European Cup. Ajax have won all but one of their home games this season (D1) and each of their last four have been to win. We’re riding that trend of Ajax to win to nil at 12/5 odds* (betting odds taken on October 21st, 2018 at 7:55 pm).
