Champions League Betting
Chelsea’s visit to the San Siro to renew acquaintance with ‘The Special One’ is the highlight of the second week of Champions League Last 16, first leg encounters.
Jose Mourinho’s Inter are the current runaway leaders of Serie A and their charismatic coach has been stirring things up ahead of the home leg of their tie with the Blues by claiming Chelsea would have won more trophies had they not dispensed with his services in 2007. The Londoners only success since Mourinho left has come in the FA Cup. Chelsea, of course, are in an excellent position to put that right in the Premier League this year but their displays on the road so far in this season’s Champions League have been far from exemplary. Wins in Porto and Nicosia were achieved by the narrowest of margins, while they trailed Atletico Madrid for most of the game until a late Didier Drogba double salvaged a draw. That record, however, still looks good alongside Inter’s, who only managed two wins in their six Group F games and needed a last-day victory over little-known Rubin Kazan to confirm their place in the knockout stages. Even without Ashley Cole, Chelsea should have enough to force a draw in Italy (21/10) and finish the job off in west London.
Elsewhere, there should be plenty of goals when holders Barcelona visit Stuttgart. The Germans know how to find the back of the net but, unfortunately, they concede just as many and, though former Spurs manager Christian Gross has steadied the ship in recent weeks, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to get the better of the Catalans over two legs. Barca, however, are likely to be without midfielders Xavi, Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita, which will limit their options so they too may settle for a draw (23/10) to take back to the Camp Nou.
The other two games are fancied to result in wins for the away teams. French champions Bordeaux qualified with ease from a section which included Bayern Munich and Juventus and are again setting the pace in Ligue 1. They should have far too much firepower for Greek side Olympiakos and look a good bet at 13/8 to secure a first-leg lead, while Sevilla’s ability to keep things tight could frustrate CSKA Moscow into taking risks in the hope of taking an advantage to Spain. If you fancy Manolo Jimenez’s Andalusians to successfully catch the Russians on the break, they can be backed at 13/10.
