Champions League betting preview: Can Man City and Liverpool take another step towards qualification?
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Odds and preview ahead of tonight’s fixtures.
The English sides have run riot in the Champions League so far this season, with all four currently topping their respective groups.
Man City’s two wins in two set them up nicely ahead of their home game against Greek side Olympiakos. Liverpool’s away fixture against Atalanta looks to be a tougher tie – the Italians have both scored and conceded freely so far this season, setting up what could prove a highly entertaining encounter.
Tonight’s other big game sees Real Madrid host Inter, with both teams in dire need of points after poor starts to their Champions League campaigns.
Here are our Champions League betting previews of tonight’s biggest games
City have started their Champions League campaign strongly, with a 3-1 victory over Porto and a 3-0 win over Marseille, firmly putting them in the driving seat for Group C.
While injury woes up top have left them looking a little toothless in the Premier League at times, they’ll be confident of making it three wins in three against the Greek champions Olympiakos, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Porto last time out.
Man City are 2/9 favourites to win tonight, with the draw at 11/2 and an Olympiakos win at 14/1.
Gabriel Jesus could potentially make his return to the starting line-up, though Pep Guardiola may look once more to Ferran Torres – who has scored twice in just 99 Champions League minutes so far, despite playing in an unfamiliar central role.
Jesus is 16/5 to open the scoring or Evens to score anytime, with Torres 9/2 to score first, or 13/8 anytime. Olympiakos will look to veteran striker Youssef El-Arabi to provide the firepower, with the Moroccan at 10/1 to score first, or 7/2 anytime.
Liverpool’s success so far in the Champions League this season has been built on a foundation of defensive stability – beating Ajax 1-0 and Midtyjlland 2-0. But Atalanta are likely to pose a different kind of threat. Last season they were Serie A’s most prolific side, scoring a huge 98 goals in a campaign that saw them finish third for the second successive season.
They weren’t half bad in the Champions League either, qualifying for the knock-out stages despite losing their first three games, before eventually succumbing to two injury-time goals against PSG in the quarter-finals.
Atalanta go into this one at 11/5 to win, with 3/1 about the draw, and Liverpool at 21/20 to win. As you might expect given Atalanta’s goalscoring record, you can back over 3.5 goals at 4/5, while both teams to score is at 3/10.
Liverpool’s wide-attacking duo of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane are favourites to open the scoring with Salah at 7/2 to score first or 19/20 anytime, Mane can be backed at 4/1 to open the scoring or 23/20 anytime.
For Atalanta, Duvan Zapata has already shown his Champions League credentials, with three goals in two games this season. He’s 9/2 to score first, or 13/10 to score anytime tonight.
Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign so far has been little short of a disaster, losing 3-2 to Shakhtar Donestsk in their opener, before a last minute Casemiro goal spared their blushes in a 2-2 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach.
Inter have fared only a little better, drawing 2-2 with Monchengladbach and 0-0 with Shakhtar.
Real Madrid are 5/6 to win tonight’s game, with both the draw and an Inter win at 3/1.
While it’s still possible for both teams to qualify, Real Madrid will be very aware that they need to put points on the board. For a team of their stature, a failure to qualify would be a humiliating disaster, especially in a group they were expected to win comfortably.
They’ll take some comfort from Inter’s patchy form in Serie A, where they’ve won just three times in their opening six games. The Italian side’s cause is not helped by the absence of striker Romelu Lukaku, who misses out with a thigh injury. That could mean Alexis Sanchez starts alongside Lautaro Martinez up front.
Karim Benzema is 7/2 to score first tonight or 11/10 anytime after scoring one of their late goals against Monchengladbach. For Inter, Martinez looks the most likely goalscorer and can be backed at 6/1 to score first, or 2/1 anytime.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
