Champions League Top Tips & In-play Offer from Bet365

With four massive games to be played in this week’s Champions League action, it’s still very much all to play for in every quarter-final.

The bet365 offer is back, once again available for this week’s big clash between Manchester City and PSG. The rules are simple. Any new or existing customer can place a bet up to £50 on the game ahead of kick-off to trigger a risk-free in-play bet of the same value. Win the in-play bet and you’ll take the profit, lose and bet365 will refund the stake to your account.

In this week’s Champions League tipster we suggest how to get the best out of bet365’s promotion as well as selecting our best bets for the remaining three matches.

TUESDAY

Manchester City vs PSG - Full Match Preview

We start at the Etihad, where Manchester City will hope to take advantage of the strong position they find themselves in following an impressive 2-2 draw at the Parc des Princes. Indeed, the bookies are struggling to separate the two sides after last Wednesday’s result, and understandably so given Pellegrini’s side’s two away goals. It’s probably best to steer clear of any bet on the full-time result then, instead backing goals with the visitors needing to play on the front foot from the first whistle.

As a result I’m confident of an entertaining first half, with odds of 2.37 on two or more goals before half-time appealing to me. That’s been the case in 4 of PSG’s last 5 Champions League encounters, and a repeat may well be likely. A bet of £50 before kick-off would return £118.50 including your stake and afford you a risk-free in-play bet of the same value as your first. In turn odds on Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score anytime at 1.95, having scored more away goals than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues this season (14), would herald a sizeable £47.50 profit.

Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg - Full Match Preview

Undoubtedly the shock of the round in a week where very few games panned out how many expected, Real Madrid have it all to do following a 2-0 defeat at Wolfsburg. The Germans were huge underdogs last week but now have a near 50-50 chance of securing safe passage to the semi-finals according to bet365’s odds on which team will qualify.

Currently at 1.83 to progress, I’m tipping Madrid to save their embarrassment and make the final four. There’s little doubt Wolfsburg will play on the counter, looking for what could be a decisive away goal, but sit too deep and they could get punished. Los Blancos have scored 37 goals in 9 home matches (4.1 per game) since Zidane’s appointment, only failing to score two or more goals once in said games. Couple that with the fact that the Wolves have won just four of 18 away games in the league and Champions League combined and a dramatic turnaround is certainly on the cards.

WEDNESDAY

Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona - Full Match Preview

While this game looks like another that is extremely finely balanced, the odds don’t suggest that it will be, with Barcelona’s one-goal advantage making them the clear favourites to qualify. With an away goal to their name, however, Atletico will be confident that their trusted defence can give them a real chance of causing an upset in what is set to be another very tight encounter.

With so much to play for, this game  may well be even more intense and nervy than the previous matches between the sides, with Barca winning by a single goal in each of the last 6. Meanwhile, Atletico have conceded just once in their last 5 matches at the Calderon, and with Messi and co. misfiring at the weekend and Fernando Torres - who enjoys this fixture - out through suspension, I’m looking to the both teams to score market, opting for ‘No’ at 1.95.

Benfica vs Bayern Munich - Full Match Preview

Having conceded inside 2 minutes at the Allianz Arena, most would have felt that Benfica would be out of this tie by now. However, the Portuguese outfit managed to frustrate Pep Guardiola’s side to keep the deficit to 1-0 and give themselves a fighting chance. The odds, though, are stacked against the hosts on Wednesday given the players that look set to be unavailable to them.

Indeed, with both their top scorer in the league - Jonas - and Champions League - Nico Gaitan - ruled out through suspension and injury respectively, their chances of breaching the Bayern backline look remote. The pair have scored 6 of Benfica’s 13 goals in Europe this season and with Bayern conceding just once in their last 4 matches, the odds on the hosts to fail to score again at 2.25 are tempting.