Champions League Tips – October 28th, 2018
There is some surefire excitement coming from the Champions League on Wednesday night’s matchday five action. Spurs have to produce a win at Wembley against Inter to keep their hopes of qualification alive. Liverpool meanwhile have the chance at securing promotion if they can go and get a result out at PSG.
There’s plenty of other great action from Wednesday to look at, and here we scan over some of the top tips and predictions for the Champions League in midweek.
Atletico Madrid v Monaco 5.55 pm
Atletico Madrid will guarantee themselves a place in the next round if they win this, or if Club Brugge don’t beat Borussia Dortmund. Atletico are still in a big duel with Dortmund though so secure top spot with the two of them level on nine points heading into matchday five. Atletico have gotten better and better the longer the group stage has gone on and almost had the beating of Barcelona on the weekend in La Liga. Monaco have to win to keep their hopes of not finishing bottom alive. They got their first win (finally) under Thierry Henry in the league on the weekend. Atletico are a class above anything that the struggling Monaco can produce at the moment though.
That was evident in the first meeting it will be more so in this one. Atletico to win to nil is at 4/7 odds and it looks something of a banker* (betting odds taken on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm).
Borussia Dortmund v Club Brugge – 8.00 pm
Dortmund are fighting for top spot ahead of Atletico Madrid in Group A. If they were to beat Club Brugge while Atletico lost against Monaco that would give the Germans top spot. Dortmund only need a point to secure qualification to the knockout phase and they are more than capable of getting that on the board. They have been racking up the wins and the goals all season and haven’t shown any signs of slowing down. They won their one previous home game against Club Brugge 2-1 but we are going to predict a bigger margin of victory this time around. Club Brugge took four points off Monaco in their two meetings (including a 4-0 away win on matchday four) but they aren’t up to the level of Dortmund.
A Dortmund to win to nil is at 11/8 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm). They have been scoring for fun and still have to get their foot down to challenge Atletico for top spot.
Napoli v Red Star Belgrade – 8.00 pm
Liverpool fans will be keeping one eye on this one Wednesday night while they are watching their own side take on PSG. If Napoli can bust out a win in this one and PSG don’t beat Liverpool then the Italians will be booking their spot in the next round of the competition. Napoli start matchday five level on six points with leaders Liverpool and are unbeaten on a W1 D3 record having played out back to back draws against PSG.
They were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw at Red Star Belgrade on matchday one, but then with Belgrade producing a 2-0 home win over Liverpool last time out, that looks like a good point gained for Napoli. The win over Liverpool kept Red Star Belgrade hopes of a top-two finish alive. They have avoid defeat to be able to do that. Napoli are likely to have more answers on home soil to break down Red Star than they did away from home. This is a huge shot at three points ahead of them before what could be a massive showdown against Liverpool on matchday six.
There are some good home bankers for Wednesday and this is one of them. We are going with Napoli to win to nil at 8/13 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm)
PSV v Barcelona – 8.00 pm
Barcelona are in the driving seat at the top of Group B with ten points in the bag. They have already qualified for the next round and will win the group with three points. If Inter don’t beat Spurs then a point is enough for Barca in this one. Barca rescued a dramatic late point in a league clash against Atletico Madrid on the weekend but with a solid W3 D1 run of form in the group stage of the Champions League we expect them to be comfortable here. They beat PSV 4-0 at the first time of asking. They have already rattled off eleven goals in their four games in Group B so far. PSV have conceded ten.
Another routine win for Barcelona should be on the cards here. They are away from home but still have appeal to win to nil at 2/1 odds or alternatively, they are 8/15 to just win the game in the match outright* (betting odds taken from bet365 on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm)
FC Porto v Schalke – 8.00 pm
This is a game for almost all of the marbles in Group D, the most overlooked group in this season’s exception. Porto have to just play out a draw at home against the Germans to get top spot. Given the way that they have performed and have held themselves so far, they should be able to at least do that. There was a 1-1 draw between themselves and Schalke in the first meeting. Schalke are in second place in the group, training the Portuguese by two points, so they could make a really big move with an away three points.
Schalke look a bit short on goals compared to Porto so we are sticking with the home win at decent enough 4/5 odds * (betting odds taken from bet365 on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm)
Lokomotiv v Galatasaray – 5.55 pm
Galatasaray have to come up with a win on their travels in order to keep their hopes of a top-two finish alive. They have failed to score in any of their last three games though in the group. They beat Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 in their first meeting in the group but then goals dried up. Moscow have shipped at least three goals in all but one of their group stage games. They have looked well short of quality.
The Russians have lost their two home games so far and we are going to go with them make it three from three. Galatasaray have more to play for so it is the away win for us at 11/5 odds* (betting odds taken from bet365 on November 26th, 2018 at 10:58 pm)
