Soccer Best Bets for UEFA Champions League – Round of 16 Predictions for Tuesday and Wednesday Feb. 25 and Feb. 26
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
Champions League Round of 16 Best Bets
Betting Odds - Tuesday, Feb. 25
Barcelona (+120) vs. Napoli (+225), Draw (+245), Total 2.5
Bayern Munich (-135) vs. Chelsea (+325), Draw (+310), Total 3
Odds provided by FanDuel (IN, NJ, & PA only) Odds Subject to Change (T&C's Apply, 21+)
Games scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET
Barcelona vs. Napoli
Barcelona and Bayern Munich are similar quality sides, but Chelsea have been better than Napoli this year - Napoli have lost nine Serie A games and won just ten - and so Barcelona look a really good bet at 23/20.The Stadio San Paolo can, however, be a fearsome place to visit, but Inter won there six weeks ago and Barça seem to be putting together a good run of form at just the right time. They prepared well for this game with a 5-0 thrashing of Eibar.
The absence of Kalidou Koulibaly is a huge blow for the hosts and Lionel Messi and company should be too strong.
Best Bet: Barcelona to win at 23/20
Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea
Chelsea started the season conceding and scoring lots of goals, but their approach in big matches recently has been more cautious. They effectively shut out Tottenham at the weekend, only conceding an own goal, and although Bayern are a massively better team than Spurs, this game could be cagier than expected.Bayern are a shade of odds-on, and even though Chelsea generally play well in matches, the Germans’ superior finishing (and superior goalkeeper) means they merit this status. Home advantage is less important in the Champions League than it used to be, so if Chelsea are narrowly behind late on it is unlikely that they will go all out for an equaliser.
A low-scoring Bayern win looks a good bet at 9/5.
Best Bet: Bayern Munich to win and under 3.5 goals at 9/5
Betting Odds - Wednesday, Feb. 26
Manchester City (+140) vs. Real Madrid (+175), Draw (+270), Total 3
Juventus (-115) vs. Lyon (+345), Draw (+240), Total 2.5
Odds provided by FanDuel (IN, NJ, & PA only) Odds Subject to Change (T&C's Apply, 21+)
Games scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET
Manchester City vs. Real Madrid
This is by far the hardest of the week’s four games to call. Manchester City will focus the rest of their season on the Champions League, especially given that they may not feature in the competition for the next two years. But Pep Guardiola does have a genuinely bad recent record in big Champions League away games.He has won none of his last ten knockout away ties. Real, though, are in poor form, are much worse than they were, say, three years ago, and have Eden Hazard missing through injury. City are rightful favourites, but Guardiola’s tendency to overthink these kind of games makes me reluctant to tip them at 11/8.
However they would probably be happy with a draw - at least a score draw - and Real, with a rather average 46 goals in 25 La Liga games, do not have the attacking quality to make much appeal either.
Best Bet: Draw at 11/4
Juventus vs. Lyon
Juventus have been solid but unspectacular under Maurizio Sarri. Despite being top of Serie A, three teams have scored more goals than them and two teams have conceded fewer. But even though Sarri has never won a major trophy, this is still Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo and they retain an ability to get the job done, just as they have done in away wins at Inter, Roma and Atalanta this season.Lyon are having a poor season. They lie seventh in Ligue 1 and only squeezed through the weakest section in this year’s group stage with eight points from six games. 1-0 or 2-0 to Juve look the likeliest outcomes here.
Best Bet: Juventus to win at under 2.5 goals at 10/3
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