after what seems like a very long break from uefa champions league action, the eagerly awaited knockout stages get underway next week, with several mouth-watering last-16 ties to look forward to.
three english teams made it through to the last 16, with leicester city, arsenal and manchester city left flying the flag for england in europe. the gunners face bayern munich this week, whilst leicester play sevilla and man city go head-to-head with monaco the following week.
we’ve got live odds comparison, tips, analysis, best odds and more on the biggest matches in the champions league next week. we’ll be taking a look at arsenal’s massive game, as well as the blockbuster game between paris saint-germain and barcelona, and the real madrid v napoli and benfica v borussia dortmund fixtures.
on tuesday evening, unai emery’s paris saint-germain and luis enrique’s barcelona take centre stage at the parc des princes. with these two big-hitters squaring off in the round of 16, one of these european giants will be exiting the competition at a relatively early stage.
barca, five-time european cup winners, head to paris as the 23/20 favourites with betfair. enrique’s men, who won group c ahead of manchester city, are also favourites to lift the trophy come may. as for psg, despite being on their own patch, emery’s side are available at 12/5 (betvictor). meanwhile, you can get the draw at 13/5 with betfred.
unfortunately for the french ligue 1 outfit, we can see barcelona easing to a victory at the parc des princes. blaugrana go into this one having won seven of their last eight in all competitions, and we like the look of ladbrokes’ 3/1 for barca to win this one with a -1 goal handicap.
one thing is for sure, this is one clash that would be further of the final itself, so be sure to tune in to enjoy the action!
despite beating psg to top spot in group a, arsene wenger’s arsenal face the tough prospect of playing german giants bayern munich home and away in the last 16. bayern and the gunners are no strangers to facing each other in this competition, with the bundesliga outfit getting the better of the premier league team in recent years.
arsenal head to the allianz arena as the 6/1 underdogs with bet365 to bring home a first-leg lead. looking at our live odds comparison, the bavarians are available at just 1/2 (sky bet) to win on their own patch. before this weekend’s home cup match with wolfsburg, carlo ancelotti’s men have won 11 of their 14 home matches in all competitions.
however, fc hollywood were held to a 1-1 draw by schalke at the weekend, which should give arsenal confidence going into next wednesday’s match. we’re backing the london side to steal a priceless draw in munich, with sportingbet offering the best betting odds of 18/5 (though check our odds comparison in case there are fluctuations!).
arsenal have had some joy against bayern munich in the past, and though they often disappoint when it comes to the crunch, we think they’ll have enough to avoid defeat in bavaria on this occasion. whether they’ll be able to do so in the return leg remains to be seen of course, but arsene wenger could really do with a decent run in this competition after recent domestic disappointments!
the holders real madrid begin this year’s knockout stages with a two-legged tie against serie a side napoli. the spanish top-flight leaders go into their home fixture as the strong favourites to seal the win.
despite a couple of iffy results in recent weeks, real still sit pretty at the top of la liga. although barca have closed the gap to a single point, zinedine zidane’s troops have two games in hand on their rivals. as for napoli, they are hot on the heels of juventus in serie a, sitting six points behind in second.
the team from naples head to the santiago bernabeu as the 5/1 underdogs with sky bet, whilst the best betting odds you can get on the draw are 18/5 at sportingbet.
however, we can see real madrid easing to another home victory in this one. sportingbet have them as short as 4/7 for the win, so we believe coral’s decent odds of 7/5 for zidane’s side to win -1 is a price well worth having a punt on.
rui vitoria’s benfica welcome thomas tuchel’s borussia dortmund to the estadio da luz on tuesday evening. the eagles, who followed napoli into the last 16 from group b, currently sit top of the primeira liga, a point above portuguese rivals porto. dortmund, meanwhile, sit fourth in the german bundesliga table, 12 points off the pace.
on paper, these two look pretty evenly matched. despite underachieving in the bundesliga at present, bvb head to lisbon as the 6/5 favourites with betfair. and after beating high-flyers red bull leipzig at the weekend, tuchel’s men will be full of confidence. as for benfica, who are available at 13/5 (betfair) to claim a first-leg win, they have lost two of their last three in all competitions, although they have lost only once at home all season.
this tie is a difficult match to call, as it will be a tough test for both. being at home, vitoria’s side will fancy their chances, but dortmund have had a fine champions league campaign so far, beating real madrid to top spot in group f. we’re predicting this fixture to end all square the estadio da luz, with betfred’s best odds of 19/5 for the draw standing out.