After the opening Champions League games of 2015 last week, we have the second lot of last-16 first legs coming up this week, as the European action kicks fully into gear. This week’s action doesn’t have quite as many favourites for the trophy as last week, but we do have Barcelona, as well as last season’s runners up and two English sides in amongst this week’s four games.
All eyes will be on Barca’s trip to City, as they’re in great form and this is a huge test for them against the English champions. Barca are probably the most on-form side in the competition right now, and they’re amongst the favourites for good reason. Elsewhere we have Arsenal playing Monaco, Juventus against 2013 runners up Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen against Atletico Madrid, who lost out in last year’s final to Real. Here we have previews and a betting tips for each of those four games.
Tuesday 24th February 2015
Manchester City v Barcelona (19:45) – Barcelona to win (11/10 with Coral)
Manchester City aren’t big outsiders at home too often, but they are here when Barcelona roll in to town. For the second season in a row, these two meet in the last 16, and it will be interesting to see what Manchester City learnt from last year and just how they approach this one. They are trailing in the league, out of both domestic cups and they know a Champions League run will be hugely important to how their season is judged at the end of the campaign. They’ve yet to achieve anything in this competition, and given their aging side they need to do it soon if this group are going to ever become European champions.
The tough thing for them is that Barcelona have hit top form going in to this game. Earlier in the season we saw the Catalans lose to PSG, and that side would have found it tough coming to the Etihad. This one should be able to deal with it much more easily, given that they’ve now won 11 games on the spin. Barca have improved so much since last season, it’s tough to see City being able to deal with their incredible attack. After almost four years without winning the European Cup, Barcelona will be targeting that this season, and a win here will have them almost in the quarter finals.
Juventus v Dortmund (19:45) – Both teams to score (19/20 with Coral)
Tucked away while City face Barca, there is another huge game on in the competition on Tuesday night as Dortmund travel to Italian champions Juventus. Given how Dortmund have been struggling this term, this has been their escape from their league woes, as they breezed through the group stage. Coming to Juventus is going to be a much harder task, given the form that the Italians are currently in. If Dortmund are going through to the quarters, they’ll need to just survive through this game, and produce a big performance at home.
Juve have been dominating Serie A for a while now, but they’ve been unable to transfer that to the Champions League. They had a couple of seasons where they looked close to challenging, but they’ve not really done it in recent years. They don’t quite have the team this year to come close by the looks of things, and Dortmund’s European experience in the past few seasons probably gives them the edge here. Either way, this is a tough tie to call, but both teams to score looks like the best bet for this one.
Wednesday 25th February 2015
Arsenal v Monaco (19:45) – Arsenal to win to nil (13/10 with BetVictor)
Arsenal have landed on their feet in the Champions League draw for once, as instead of drawing the likes of Barcelona or Bayern in this round as they usually do, they got Monaco. The French side threatened to be a big spending challenger in Europe like their Ligue 1 rivals PSG, but they’ve been cost cutting in recent times and they now sit fifth in the table. They’re a real mixed bag form wise, and only got this far by drawing a pretty weak group by this competition’s standards.
Arsenal are fighting to get into next season’s Champions League domestically, and it isn’t looking certain for them at the moment. They have a great chance to get themselves in to the quarter finals here, which would strengthen their reputation across Europe after a couple of early exits in recent years. They look to have far too much for this Monaco side, and they’re heavy favourites with the bookies going in to this game. Arsenal have the both better team, and they look like they’re starting to hit form. Arsenal to win to nil looks to be the best bet here, which would give them a great chance of heading through to the last eight.
Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid (19:45) – Atletico to win (6/4 with Coral)
Finally, this game may actually prove to be the more interesting of the Wednesday fixtures, with Atletico looking to follow up on their run to the final last season, and the Spanish champions did manage to finish ahead of Juventus and top their group. They may have lost a few players in the summer but they’ve shown that they’re still a top side this season, especially after their 4-0 win over great rivals Real Madrid recently. They come in to this game as favourites, and look very likely to progress to the quarters.
That’s because Bayer are in patchy form and they were beaten 4-0 at home by PSG in the last 16 a year ago. After conceding five goals against Wolfsburg in their most recent home game, they don’t look much better than last season, and against a side who hammered Real Madrid, they could concede quite a few. This looks like a comfortable game and tie for Atletico, and they’re well priced to win this first leg and take up a commanding lead in the tie with the home fixture still to come.