As soon as the Champions League draw was made, then the best football betting sites reacted by amending the outright market. Liverpool are now favourites to win the European Cup with some bookies and it’s easy to see why the bookmakers are wary of taking on a team who appear to be as strong under Klopp as they ever have been.
The bookies offer a best price 1/14 that the Reds qualify for the semi-finals after drawing Benfica and you can get a double figure price about the Portuguese side going through at their expense. However, the underdogs haven’t fluked their way through to the last eight stage of the leading club competition in Europe and have to be respected.
Liverpool Hot Betting Favourites to Win at Estádio da Luz
Liverpool Football Club are bidding to land their seventh European Cup success and they are now the market leaders, with the Reds having overcome Internazionale in the previous round and this represents a somewhat easier assignment. The 2019 Champions League winners didn’t have things their own way at the San Siro and were also beaten 1-0 at Anfield but still squeaked through.
Mohamed Salah should be fighting fit when this tie comes around and Klopp is faced with the difficult selection dilemma which involves choosing two other attacking players out of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota. There is also the fact that Liverpool have to juggle the fixtures considering that they’re currently gunning for the Premier League table.
Even so, Liverpool are likely to be in many Champions League accumulator bets when it comes to the last eight matches, with the team having a settled look about it. The back five currently pick themselves and we’re expecting Benfica to struggle to create chances considering that Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip are arguably the strongest central defensive partnership in the business.
Can Benfica Pull Off a Big Champions League Shock Against Reds?
Benfica twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Ajax in the Estádio da Luz before heading to the Netherlands and claiming a surprise 1-0 victory to ensure their progress through to the last eight stage. It was the highly-rated Darwin Núñez who was able to score the winner in the second leg and perhaps the 22-year-old holds the key to any hope of pulling off a shock.
The Uruguayan has already received international call-ups and is thought to be on the radar of many leading clubs who are looking to swoop for the forward this summer. Benfica can focus all their energies on trying to enjoy their European adventure considering that they are twelve points behind Porto in the domestic standings.
Nunez has scored twenty goals domestically and Benfica will surely have to look at attacking their opponents in the first leg and generating an advantage that they can take to Anfield. However, it’s worth noting that they suffered heavy defeats against Bayern Munich during the group stage despite finishing above Barcelona and Dynamo Kiev.