It's Champions League time as Barca welcome PSG to the Nou Camp with their tie all but settled, and Porto visit Munich with a 2 goal lead to protect. I could certainly do with a boost after a poor weekend that was followed by a 3 point loss last night as Fiorentina crashed to a home defeat to Verona that bookies certainly didn't expect to see. There are 2 games to look at today, most notably the 2 champions league ties as Bayern look to overturn a 3.1 first leg defeat at home to Porto while Barca should have little trouble in finishing the job at home to PSG who need at least 3 goals on the night to have a chance to progress. Here are my previews for the 2 big games from the continent tonight.
20.45 - Barcelona v PSG - Prediction 2.2- Best Bet, BTTS @8/13, Luis Suarez to score anytime @21/20, BTTS and over 2.5 goals @5/6 This should be a routine return leg for Barca but with no pressure on the visitors and Zlatan Ibrahimovic expected to return to the starting line-up, the Parisiens should make a good go of it in the Camp Nou tonight. 3 goals is a big ask for PSG but having seen Valencia create multiple chances at the weekend in Barcelona, (albeit failing to take any of them), they will be confident that they can at least make chances to score and if they can grab the first goal, it could be an interesting night in the Nou Camp and while I'm not by any means suggesting that PSG can qualify, I do feel confident they will score and perhaps give Barca a fright tonight. With key midfield man Veratti back as well as Zlatan, they should be more dangerous going forward than they were in last week's first leg defeat and I expect them to score at least once. Much depends on the fitness and competency of Betie Bombscare aka David Luiz/Sideshow Bob who will replace the injured captain Thiago Silva who limped out of the first leg in Paris last Wednesday and his presence in defence will no doubt excite the other Luis in the Barca attack. The absence of Silva pretty much ended this tie for PSG who rely so heavily on the Brazilian captian to hold together their defense and his replacement Luiz will hardly inspire his team with much confidence, especially given his lack of fitness and performance last week. Luiz was humiliated by Luis Suarez in the first leg and if he puts in another of his madcap defensive performances it could be a long night for the French champions who will undoubtedly need to commit men forward to try to turn this tie around. It doesn't take a genius though to guess that Senor Luiz is going to try to take this tie into his own hands and join the attack at every opportunity to support his team-mates and in the Camp Nou, that could be a death sentence for PSG. Still, I'm going with BTTS @8/13 and have a feeling that PSG will at least make a game of it and put in a much improved performance to earn a credible draw but with Luiz and Luis in the 2 respective teams, we should expect some more goals for the home side as well. These 2 sides have seen BTTS in each of their last 5 meeting and while the tie does look to be over as a contest, I have a feeling we will see some decent action in Barcelona tonight. I also have big confidence in Luis Suarez scoring tonight at 21/20 odds. 6 goals in 6 Champions League games and 12 goals in his last 12, including 5 in his last 4 make it hard to ignore a man who is literally (not literally Jamie) on fire at the moment. 20.45 - Bayern v Porto - Prediction 3.1- Best Bet - Bayern -1 to win @5/6, Bayern to qualify @ 19/20 Bayern face a big test tonight if they are to make progress to the quarter finals following their 3.1 first leg defeat in Oporto 6 days ago. Both sides have key players missing with both of Porto's fullbacks suspended while Jackson Martinez is doubtful with a groin strain while Bayern have a host of key players absent, most notably Arjen Robben and possibly their captain Phillipe Lahm, Frank Ribery is also considered highly doubtful to start. Porto are only the narrow favourites to progress despite a 2 goal cushion which tells us that this is still a huge task for the visitors, and it is my expectation that Bayern will turn the tie around although it might take more than 90 minutes to do so. While 2.0 would be good enough to win on away goals, 3.1 would see the tie going to extra time and that is the outcome I quite fancy here. Bayern have enough quality to win this game, but can they win it by 2 clear goals? I think they can although I would like to see the team-news before confirming my final selections here. Bayern have of course won all 4 of their home games in Europe this season, with clean sheets in each of them and a winning margin of more than 1 in 3 so it is certainly not an impossible task that they face here. I expect a pretty exciting contest and if Porto can score an away goal, it really will be a challenge for Pep's men who will almost certainly need to perform at their maximum if they are to stay in this years competition. There can be no doubt that much rests on the outcome of this tie for Bayern, and while Pep insists that he will still be here next season, this is Bayern Munich we are talking about and they certainly did not hire him to win the Bundesliga alone. Failure here could certainly cost him his job, especially given the furore over the departing Doctor and his medical staff who did not take kindly to criticism regarding the team's injuries from Guardiola. Bad Pep. In addition, last year's thumping by Real Madrid in the semi-finals did not sit well with the Bayern hierarchy and another exit, this time at the hands of a lesser side like Porto would surely put a big question mark on the Catalan manager's future so there can be no doubting that the pressure and expectation lies with the Germans but I fancy them to get through it. Just. Probably... Bayern -1 is my favourite bet here @5/6 as I can see a 2.0 or 3.1 with Bayern ultimately qualifying at 19/20 odds but it could take extra time, and perhaps penalties to get the job done. Bo's Best Bets in order of confidence Barcelona v PSG - BTTS @8/13 Bayern -1 to win @5/6 Bayern to qualify @19/20 Barcelona v PSG - BTTS and over 2.5 goals @5/6 Luis Suarez to score anytime Comments are closed.
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