Betting on the Champions League?

The Champions League is back with us this week and Wednesday’s action throws up some very interesting ties, involving some of Europe’s biggest clubs. The likes of Chelsea, AC Milan and Barcelona will all be looking to avoid embarrassing home defeats, while Arsenal face a tricky trip to Marseille.

We are going to take a look at Wednesday’s action with a view to finding a few bets that could prove to give any punter a profitable evening. If you are new to betting, we will try to keep it as basic as possible whilst offering a series of options of what to bet on, and what you should be looking for.

As mentioned, Chelsea, AC Milan and Barcelona are all at home against some of Europe’s less glamorous opponents - namely Genk, BATE Borisov and Plezen. Therefore from a betting perspective, there is very little point in backing any of the three home sides outright because your profit will be so small. A better option would be to bet on what you think the correct score will be.

Looking at Chelsea’s recent Champions League record, they beat Leverkusen 2-0 on match day one, before being held at Valencia last time out. Chelsea have score 17 in their first eight Premier League matches, while their opponents Genk have lost their last three and scored just once in that time. These figures point to a Chelsea win – probably to nil. For that reason we will go with a bet on Chelsea to win 3-0. You can get odds of 6/1 on this happening, which means for every £1 you bet you will get £7 in return e.g. a £5 bet on Chelsea to win 3-0 will give a return of £35.

Next up we will look at Barcelona vs Plezen and the first goalscorer market. As you may have guessed, this time you will be betting on who you think will score the first goal of the match and unsurprisingly Lionel Messi is the favourite to do so, at odds of 2/1. There is little value in this bet so it is worth looking a bit further a-field and Xavi could be the answer at odds of 10/1. He gets his fair share of goals from midfield and will be on free-kick duty at the Nou Camp. His odds of 10/1 mean you will win £11 for every £1 you bet. So a £5 bet on Xavi to score first will give you a return of £55.

Finally we will look at AC Milan vs BATE Borisov and the anytime goalscorer market. Betting on this means the player you select only has to score sometime in the match for your bet to win, rather than the previous example where we are betting on Xavi to score the first goal in the match. The AC Milan forwards are all very short prices to score anytime in the match, but one name that catches the eye is Alberto Aquilani. He has settled into the Milan side very well and already has a goal to his name this season. He is available at 4/1 to score anytime in the match and this is well worth a small bet. Again, for every £1 you bet you will get £5 back, so a £5 bet means you will win £25.

For more betting tips visit http://www.thatsagoal.com.

Andrew Clark