The first legs of four more UCL Round of 16 matches takes place on Wednesday and we take a look at each game including Bayer Leverkusen v Arsenal, Bodo v Sporting, PSG v Chelsea and Real Madrid v Manchester City
Bayer Leverkusen v Arsenal
Leverkusen came through their play off with Olympiakos, winning the first leg 2-0 away from home and the return finished without a goal. Leverkusen had finished 16th in the League Phase with a record of 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats and a 2-0 win at Manchester City was an eye catching result.
Arsenal topped the League Phase as the only side to boast a 100% record. They won all 8 matches scoring a total of 23 goals which conceding just 4 and their stand out results included home wins over Atletico and Bayern and overseas they won at Inter, Brugge, Slavia Prague and Bilbao.
Leverkusen may have been flattered by their win at Man City who rotated to a large degree and I can see the Gunners taking a first leg advantage. I’ll go with the visitors multi goals market and a pick of 2-3.
Bet: Arsenal multigoals 2-3 at 11/10 with Sportingbet
Bodo / Glimt v Sporting
Bodo took some big scalps on their way to the Round of 16. They looked to be heading out in the League Phase but a late rally saw them win at home to Manchester City and away to Atletico. That set up a play off with Inter which looked to be in the balance after Bodo won their home leg 3-1. They were still underdogs for the return in Milan but they pulled off a 2-1 win to go through 5-2 on aggregate.
Sporting were 1 of a number of teams who qualified automatically with a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. They won all 4 of their home games including a visit from PSG, defeats came away to Napoli and Bayern, they drew away to Juventus and a 3-2 win in Bilbao earned a direct route into the Ro16.
The bookmakers are battling to name a favourite with Bodo having defied the odds many times before and Sporting boast some useful form. I’ll take a small interest in the visitors, more on gut feel than anything.
Bet: Sporting to win at 18/10 with Betway
PSG v Chelsea
PSG started the League Phase well including a victory away to Barcelona but they won just 1 of their last 5 and missed out on auto qualification with 14 points. They were matched with Monaco in the play offs and after a 3-2 win away from home a 2-2 draw in Paris saw them edge their way through.
Chelsea won 3 of their last 4 League Phase matches and qualified automatically with a sixth placed finish and an overall record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats. They won all 4 of their home games, most notably seeing off Barcelona 3-0 and a 3-2 win away to Napoli on Matchday 8 saw them avoid the play offs. They now PSG whom they beat 3-0 in the Final of the Club World Cup at the start of this season.
PSG have kept just the 2 clean sheets in 10 UCL games this season and I get the feeling Chelsea have been managing their resources of late with this game in mind. I can see the visitors coming away with a draw.
Bet: Match result draw at 28/10 with Betway
Real Madrid v Manchester City
These two sides finished the League Phase either side of the cut off line for automatic qualification. Real were ninth and took their chances in the play offs where they came through a very stormy clash with Benfica with a 1-0 away win in the first leg and a 2-1 victory in the return in Madrid. They won their first 3 League Phase matches and 5 in total but defeats at Liverpool, at home to their opponents here and also at Benfica prior to the play offs saw them slip out of the top 8.
Meanwhile City grabbed eighth position and avoided a play off and their 2-1 win at Real played a big part in that. It wasn’t always plain sailing with surprise defeats at home to Leverkusen and away to Bodo / Glimt but 5 wins and a draw at Monaco proved to be enough.
With 2 draws and 2 defeats in their last 4 La Liga games Real are still battling to find consistency but remain a lively danger to a City side who beat them in the League Phase. There is scope for goals and probably for both sides and I’m with I’ll go with Vinicius Junior any time.
Bet: Anytime goalscorer Vinicius Junior boosted to 18/10 with Sportingbet