A Thursday morning double-header bears down on us with PSG facing Barcelona and Liverpool playing RB Leipzig.
Let’s shoot and score the best bets ahead of the Round of 16 Champions League football.
PSG vs. Barcelona
march 11th 7:00am
Barcelona will be drawing upon the feats of its 2017 comeback dubbed ‘La Remontada’ against PSG when it faces the French champion with a 4-1 deficit heading into the second leg of its Round of 16 tie.
Kylian Mbappe put on a Champions League masterclass at Camp Nou a fortnight ago by netting a hat trick to guide PSG into a commanding position ahead of the return leg at Parc De Princes on Thursday morning.
After going down 1-0, courtesy of a well taken Lionel Messi penalty, Mauricio Pochettino’s men responded clinically.
Barcelona will have to defy Champions League history if it is to qualify through to the quarter finals: no team in the history of the tournament has ever progressed out of a knockout tie after losing its first leg at home by a margin of three goals.
The Catalans may have had the talent with the ability to achieve that feat a handful of years ago, but with an ageing Messi and a team not as dominant as it once was, it is tough to see anything but PSG qualifying for the quarter finals.
A harrowing away record in this competition over recent games will not inspire any confidence in the Barcelona camp either, having only been victorious in one of its last nine away games in the knockout phase.
PSG will still be without Neymar, however, with a squad bursting at the seams with such talent, his absence has been duly covered.
Mbappe has been supported by Argentine striker Mauro Icardi as well as winger Angel Di Maria.
The La Liga form of Barcelona has seen it go undefeated through its last five games with a current three-game winning streak.
Coach Ronald Koeman seems to have got his men back buzzing again after the defeat in the first leg.
Defensively, Koeman’s defence is yet to concede a goal in its last four fixtures across all competitions in Spain and have scored 10 goals in that time frame.
But this PSG line-up is a far superior squad to anything Barcelona has played in the last fortnight.
The Blaugrana will put in a much improved performance but the wound caused in the first leg looks fatal.
Prediction: PSG 2 Barcelona 2
Suggested Bet: Draw head to head at $3.9
Suggested Same Game Multi:
Leg 1: Draw head to head
Leg 2: Total goals scored over 2.5
Leg 3: Lionel Messi to score anytime
Combined odds = $8
Liverpool vs. RB Leipzig
march 11TH 7:00Am
Liverpool make the trek back to the Puskas Arena ahead of its ‘home’ tie against RB Leipzig on Thursday morning.
It might actually prove a blessing in disguise to get away from its actual home stadium Anfield having lost its last six encounters with the most recent being a 1-0 loss to league cellar dwellers Fulham.
RB Leipzig were unable to take advantage of the injury plague bestowed upon Liverpool this season in the first leg with Jurgen Klopp’s men digging deep to pinch a 2-0 win.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah struck within five minutes of each other with Mane’s 53rd minute strike and Salah’s 58th minute goal proving the difference.
It was Leipzig themselves who were punished in the first leg when they gifted Liverpool both goals through errors, but since that defeat they have been faultless with four wins from four.
That run of form has seen Julian Nagelsmann’s side keep the pressure on at the top of the Bundesliga, with only two points separating them from leaders Bayern Munich, as well as advancing to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal.
Liverpool will take solace in its brilliant record when winning a first leg that is an away tie in the Champions League.
The Reds have never been knocked out of this competition when winning away in the first leg and that makes the task for RB Leipzig all the more difficult.
Klopp has clearly focused his attention solely on the Champions League having rested a host of players in the league loss to Fulham.
It’s a case of this Champions League run looking like the only route for Liverpool to qualify for European football next year.
Leipzig are the new-comers to this competition and have to face a Liverpool squad hellbent on righting the wrongs of its Premier League season.
Expecting this be a Liverpool win as it marches on into the quarter finals.
Prediction: Liverpool 1 RB Leipzig 0
Suggested Bet: Liverpool head to head at $2.35
Suggested Same Game Multi:
Leg 1: Liverpool head to head
Leg 2: Total goals under 2.5
Leg 3: Mohamed Salah to score anytime
Combined odds = $9.5
