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Group A is the easiest group eight and it isn’t even close. Manchester United fans must be licking their chops in anticipation of progressing to the knockout stages of this season’s competition because they have been drawn against Benfica, CSKA Moscow and FC Basel. United are -275 to win the group and a ridiculous -2000 to advance from the group stage. My money will be on United to win the group and probably Benfica to advance from the group stage at -200.
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Bayern Munich, Paris St. Germain, Anderlecht and Celtic are the four teams in Group B in what is another relatively easy group. You would expect Bayern and PSG to sail through this group and so does Bovada because they price both of these teams at -2500 to make it through to the knockout stages. Bookmakers can’t really separate Bayern and Paris in regards of who will win the group, pricing the former at -125 and the latter at -110; it is a coinflip.
My head is telling me PSG will win the group.
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Group C has the potential to cause some upsets because it sees Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, AS Roma and FK Karabakh compete for two places in the next round. Chelsea are narrow +110 favorites from Atletico Madrid at +125 with Roma at +400 to win the group. Roma look a decent outside bet to advance from the group stage at +110, but remember they lost their best player in Mohamed Salah and two other key defensive players in Antonio Rudiger and Leandro Paredes so are weaker than the side that finished second in Serie A last season.
As for group winners, I like the look of Atletico.
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The fourth group looks set to be another two horse race for qualification with FC Barcelona pitted against last season’s losing finalists Juventus, Sporting Lisbon and Greece’s Olympiakos.
Of those four sides, you can write of Olympiakos’ chances ot winning the group (+6600) and advancing because they simply are not good enough. Despite losing Neymar and a host of other players rumoured to be unhappy, you should be looking no further than betting on the -150 for Barcelona to win the group. Do bear in mind, however, that Juventus beat Barcelona 3-0 in the quarter-finals of last season’s competition. Any other bet seems to be lacking in value, for example, Barcelona are -2000 to progress and Juventus are priced at -1400. Â
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Group E should see both Liverpool and Sevilla make it through to the knockout stages although nobody will want to travel to Spartak Moscow during the winter months and that fixture could throw up some interesting results. Slovenia’s Maribor make up the numbers.
Bovada have Liverpool as -175 favorites to win Group E and that looks fair, if only because Sevilla do not score enough goals. The Spanish outfit have made the UEFA Europa League their own in recent years, but always seem to be lacking something in the tougher Champions League. I fancy Sevilla to advance, although the -450 on them doing so does not seem to be great value unless you are prepared to bet big.
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When the draw for Group F was made, Manchester City fans must have been delighted because they get to play against Napoli, FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Feyenoord.
It should be no surprise that City are -185 favorites to win the group and I will be on that all day long because none of the other teams have it in them to top the group. While City should top the group and Napoli secure a place in the next round (-300) by finishing second, I have been hearing good things about Shakhtar Donetsk especially their core of Brazilian players, so it could be worthwhile placing a small wager on them to advance at +275; just don’t go wild.
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Group G is an interesting one because I believe all four teams have a decent chance of qualification. Monaco lost Kyllian Mbappe in the close season but should still have enough to win the group (+125), but then FC Porto, Red Bull Leipzig and Besiktas could all lock up a place in the knockout stages by finishing second. Porto look the best bet to do this at -120 simply because their players have experience of European soccer, although do not write off Leipzig (-135) because they are an exciting, young team who have bags of potential. Besiktas are +275 and probably won’t go through unless they can dominate their home games where there is a hostile and intimidating atmosphere.
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Remember we mentioned a ‘Group of Death?’ Well Group H is it. Look at this for a line-up: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur and APOEL Nicosia.
Madrid should walk away with the group title at -275 but then both Dortmund and Spurs and vying for that all-important second place to progress to the next round. It is tough to predict who will advance because Dortmund have lost a couple of key players while Spurs haven’t really strengthened their squad, a squad that was awful in last year’s competition.
Spurs are -115 to progress and Dortmund -140 and I think the latter has more value despite being shorter because of Dortmund’s pedigree in recent European tournaments.
Category : Betting Picks
Tag : AS Roma , Barcelona , Bayern Munich , Borussia Dortmund , Champions League , Chelsea , Manchester City , manchester united , real madrid , soccer betting , Tottenham Hotspur , uefa champions league
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