UEFA Champions League Betting
The draw for the Champions League Group matches took place last Thursday and threw up some interesting clashes, and we’re taking a look at the Groups and the betting on who is going to qualify.
Today we’ll be looking at the chances of the teams in Group A to D with the rest of the Group betting being covered in our article on Wednesday.
GROUP A
Chelsea seem to have a pretty easy draw here with their main opponents looking likely to be Italian side Roma. Bordeaux are a decent side, but will do well to trouble the “Big Two” while CFR are a bit of an unknown quantity ,but currently lie mid table in the Romanian league and it would be a major surprise if they were to find themselves in a position where they could qualify from the group.
It looks to us as if last season’s Champions League Runners-Up Chelsea and the Italian’s Roma will qualify from the group and we’re tipping Chelsea to get enough points to head the group and qualify as winners of group A.
Current group betting:
Chelsea 2/5 (Ladbrokes)
Roma 11/4 (Paddypower)
Bordeaux 6/1 (Skybet)
CFR 50/1 (Coral)
GROUP B
The favourites here have to be Inter Milan. They have drawn Werder Bremen, Panithanaikos and Anorthosis and they must be extremely happy to have what looks on paper at least a very easy group.
It’s hard to see Inter dropping too many points in this group and the Italian Champions can’t be opposed in this group. Werder Bremen finished second to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season and while they will bee seen by many to be the obvious choice to qualify as runners-up in the group, we think they may face stiff opposition to do so and we wouldn’t back them with any confidence to finish in second place.
Panathinaikos only finished in third place in the Greek championship last season and they have done well to qualify for the group stages. They will be hard to beat at home and it’s possible their home form could see them challenging for second spot.
Anorthosis are the first team from Cyprus to ever reach the group stages of the competition and they have been impressive-especially at home- in the qualifying rounds. They beat Greek champions Olympiacos in the qualifying round and they should have nothing to fear from Panithanaikos. We’re going for them to finish a surprise second in the group and upset Werder Bremen.
Current Group Betting:
Inter 1/2 (Paddypower)
Werder 5/2 (Coral)
Panathinaikos 8/1 (Partybets)
Anorthosis 69/1 (Betfair)
Even at 1/2 Inter look worth backing to win the group.
GROUP C
This looks quite a tough group with Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Shakhtar Donesk and Basel being the teams involved. The only team you would probably rule out of a chance of qualifying are Basel who could find it tough against three such formidable group rivals.
Barcelona are favourites to qualify and given their past record in the competition they probably deserve to be. Barcelona have made a lot of new signings after a pretty disappointing showing last season when they could only finish third in La Liga. With tough away trips to Lisbon and the Ukraine they look a bit too short a price for us to back heavily and we’d advise a bit of caution if you fancied a bet on them.
No team will fancy a visit to the Ukraine to face Shakhtar and they can take points of everyone at home and be real contenders in this group. Sporting Lisbon are maybe not the force they were two or three seasons ago, but they will still be tough opponents and can’t be discounted either.
Current Group Betting:
Barcelona 3/10 (Partybets)
Sporting 7/1 (Skybet)
Shakhtar 5/1 (VCbet)
Basel 20/1 (VCbet)
With Barcelona being so short a price we think there’s better value in taking Shakhtar to come out on top in this group.
GROUP D
Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, PSV and Marseille make up a tough looking group and if Liverpool didn’t have such a good past record in the competition it would be hard to justify them being favourites to win this group.
Liverpool just managed to scrape into the group stages and with PSV more than capable of beating anyone on their day and Marseille being extremely hard to beat at home Liverpool could have their work cut out to qualify from this group.
Atletico Madrid look to us to be the strongest team in the group and we’re tipping them to win it, with the other three teams fighting it out for second place.
Current Group Betting:
Liverpool 4/5 (Ladbrokes)
Atletico 11/4 (Paddypower)
PSV 7/1 (Skybet)
Marseille 9/2 (Coral)