there are some fantastic looking matches coming up in the second round of the group stage of the 2016-17 champions league, and we’re bringing you betting tips and analysis for the best of them.
with a couple of monster germany versus spain clashes along with some key games for leicester and pep guardiola’s manchester city, read on for our thoughts on what will transpire. also, be sure to refer to our live betting odds comparison to get the best possible prices from the top bookies in the business.
champions league betting tips – tuesday 27th september 2016
borussia dortmund v real madrid
the first match we’ll be assessing is the gigantic group f clash between last year’s runners-up from the bundesliga and la liga. real are of course the reigning european champions and they will want to put in a more convincing performance than they mustered in their opening game when they scraped past sporting 2-1.
dortmund, meanwhile, put legia warsaw to the sword in poland with a 6-0 thrashing, and confidence will be high ahead of this one given they followed that up with another 6-0 win, this time over darmstadt.
of course, we can’t see the germans getting such a victory over zinedine zidane’s men, but we predict that this will be a relatively even game which really could go either way. we wouldn’t be surprised to see it end all square, and our main betting tip here is to back the draw at best betting odds of 17/10 with bet365.
leicester city v porto
the english champions made an excellent start to their maiden champions league campaign, winning 3-0 at brugge, giving themselves a fantastic chance to kick on and qualify for the knockout stage of the competition. indeed, if they play like they did in their opener, they could well finish at the top of group g and thus get a decent draw for the next round.
leicester are the 5/4 favourites with paddy power to beat the portuguese side and we think it could well go the way of the home team. we do predict an open game though and backing leicester to win with both teams scoring could well pay dividends at betting odds of 7/2 with sky bet.
champions league betting tips – wednesday 28th september 2016
scottish champions celtic were the first british club to win the european cup (the forerunner to the champions league) way back in 1967, a year before matt busby’s manchester united achieved the feat. but brendan rodgers’ men looked well out of their depth when they were smashed 7-0 by barcelona at the nou camp in their opening group match.
celtic fans will be hopeful their side can put up more of a fight when man city travel to glasgow on wednesday, but really the odds are stacked against them… literally: city are the 1/3 favourites with william hill and others to win the match!
city’s opening match was delayed by 24 hours due to adverse weather conditions, but they put in a decent performance when the match finally got underway, beating borussia monchengladbach 4-0 in manchester.
with celtic priced out at betting odds of 9/1 with betfair and a host of other bookies, a few celtic fans and risk-loving punters might well fancy a bet on the home side. it wasn’t all that long ago (the 2012-13 season) when celtic beat barcelona on home soil in this competition and if the hoops get some breaks it’s not completely out of the question that they could get something from the game.
realistically, though, pep guardiola has too much experience and his side too much quality for the citizens to slip up here and we’ll be backing pep’s men to win with a -1 handicap at tasty betting odds of 10/11 with paddy power.
in the second massive germany versus spain fixture of this round, the 2013 european champions visit the runners-up from last season and 2014. this game could have a massive bearing on how group d pans out and indeed which of these sides has the easier route towards the latter stages of the competition.
in their opening matches, bayern beat rostov with ease, winning 5-0 at home, while atletico made hard work of things but ultimately ran out 1-0 winners at psv eindhoven. diego simeone’s men haven’t started with all guns blazing in la liga, having won two and drawn two of their first four matches, but they will be as tough to break down as ever and they have every chance of getting at least a draw here.
when the sides met in last season’s champions league semi-final, it was the spaniards who edged through on away goals after a 1-0 victory in the spanish capital and a 2-1 defeat in germany.
bayern munich are priced as the 7/5 favourites with bet365 to win this one, with atletico looking tempting at odds of 2/1 with sky bet and others. the draw has to be a consideration at this stage of proceedings, with neither side wanting to take too many risks and we predict a relatively tight encounter. the stalemate can be backed at best betting odds of 23/10 with bet365.
our main betting tip for this one, however, is to back there to be under 2.5 goals scored in the game, an option that is available at 8/13 with bet365. okay, not the most exciting bet in the world, but atletico are renowned for their defensive solidity on home soil and their game plan will be all about nullifying bayern’s many attacking options.
as such, back the unders here and pocket a tidy profit from this massive champions league clash, and make sure you use our betting odds comparison tables whatever you choose to back!