The first legs of four UCL Round of 16 matches takes place on Tuesday and we take a look at each game including Galatasaray v Liverpool, Atalanta v Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid v Spurs and Newcastle v Barcelona
Galatasaray v Liverpool
Gala came through a thriller of a play off with Juventus to reach the last 16. They won the first leg 5-2 on home turf but in Turin they were 3-0 behind at the end of regulation time. The game went into extra time where Gala found 2 goals, losing 3-2 on the night but going through 7-5 on aggregate. Gala finished 20th in the league phase with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats. Those wins came in Rounds 2, 3 and 4, at home to Liverpool (1-0) and Bodo (3-1) and away at Ajax (3-0). They were very well placed at that stage but their only subsequent point was earned in a 1-1 draw at home to Atletico on Matchday 7.
Liverpool finished third in the League Phase with 6 wins and 2 defeats to qualify automatically for the Ro16. Aside from losing 1-0 away to their opponents here they put in a shocker in a 4-1 home defeat to PSV but were otherwise foot perfect including away wins at Frankfurt (5-1), Inter (1-0) and Marseille (3-0).
With a second leg to come at Anfield I think Gala will be positive enough to try and get the advantage. They are generally full of goals in home games and although just one was enough against Liverpool in the League Phase I’m looking for 2 or more from Gala here.
Bet: Galatasaray total goals, over 1.5 at 31/20 with SuperSportBet
Atalanta v Bayern Munich
Atalanta finished the League Phase with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats, good enough for 15th position and a play off place. In the second leg of the play offs they dished out a 4-1 hiding to Dortmund at this ground, overturning a 2-0 deficit from the first leg to advance 4-3 on aggregate. Among their stand out results in the League Phase you will find wins at home to Chelsea and maximum points from visits to Frankfurt and Marseille.
Bayern made short work of automatic qualification for the knockout rounds, winning 7 and losing just the 1 (to Arsenal who topped the log) to finish clear in second spot. Aside from the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal Bayern scored at least 2 goals in every match including a 2-1 win away to PSG but they kept just the 2 clean sheets.
Harry Kane missed Bayern’s Bundesliga game at the weekend with a minor knock so it might be worth checking if he is fit to take is place (his coach has suggested he should be ok). I’m with Bayern either way although I do think Atalanta can contribute to the scoring.
Bet: Bayern to win and both teams to score? Yes boosted to 39/20 with Sportingbet
Atletico Madrid v Spurs
Atletico had to take the play off route to qualify for the Round of 16 and after drawing the first leg of their clash with Club Brugge 3-3 they ran out 4-1 winners in the return in Madrid. In the league phase Atletico won 4, drew 1 and lost 3 of their matches and they faded in the later rounds to finish 14th. They won home games against Frankfurt (5-1), Union SG (3-1) and Inter (2-1) before a 3-2 win at PSV in Round 6. Thereafter dropped points in a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray followed by a shock 2-1 home defeat to Bodo cost them a top 8 automatic qualification spot.
Despite their troubles in the EPL Spurs had a solid Lague Phase campaign and with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat they finished fourth to qualify automatically. Four of those wins came in home games where each victory was accompanied by a clean sheet whilst on their travels they won at Frankfurt, drew at Bodo and Monaco and their only defeat came at PSG.
Changing coach has yet to have an impact for Spurs and they will need to show huge improvement just to stay in this. I’m with Atletico to win this first leg but given they didn’t keep a clean sheet in the League Phase or the Play Off, perhaps Spurs can contribute to the scoring.
Bet: Atletico to win and both teams to score? Yes at 21/10 with Sportingbet
Newcastle v Barcelona
Newcastle won 4, drew 2 and lost 2 of their League Phase matches and finished 12th. In the play offs they made short work of Qarabag, putting the tie to bed with a 6-1 away win in the first leg and they also won the return 3-2. They came up against Barca at St. James Park on Matchday 1 and they lost 2-1 but they went on to beat Benfica, Bilbao and PSV in other home fixtures.
Barcelona qualified automatically with a League Phase record of 5 wins,1 draw and 2 defeats to finish fifth. Despite getting off to a flyer with their win at his venue they dropped points in defeats at home to PSG and away to Chelsea and also in a draw at Brugge but they won their last 3 matches to make up the lost ground.
Newcastle have been shipping far too many goals in recent home fixtures and will need to tighten up. Barca have thrown in a couple of below par displays in the UCL this season but now we are at the knockout stage I can see them having too much for Newcastle.
Bet: Barca to win at 6/5 with SuperSportBet
Odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change