Football Champions League 2 12th Feb

Although I often like to complain about UEFA and Michel Platini I am a fan of them spreading out the Champions League First Legs over two weeks and having two games a night which allows fans to see more games. Here is our guide to the best of the bets from the two games taking place Tuesday.

Celtic take on Juventus in front of what is expected to be a noisy sold out Celtic Park and as Barcelona have found this is not an easy place to visit. It may pay then to back Celtic to get something from their first leg with Juventus. Bookmakers have the Italians as the 10/11 (Stan James) favourites. Celtic though have a good home record in this competition losing just two of 23 home games in the Champions League, both of these coming against Barcelona. In addition no Italian side has ever won at Celtic Park in the Champions League. You can get Celtic at 41/10 (pinnacle) while the draw is a best priced 30/11 (pinnacle). I think it makes sense to cover the draw and a Celtic victory as first legs are often cagey encounters with both sides knowing that the worst thing that can happen is to be out of contention after the first leg. You can get Celtic at +0.5 on the Asian Handicap line which will pay out on both the draw and a Celtic victory and this bet is available at 15/13 with pinnacle.

One other bet I like the look of in this game is Kris Commons in the scorer markets. He is 13/1 (betway) to score the opener and 17/4 (BWin) to score at anytime which looks much too big. He has scored twice in the last three and has a knack of scoring in the big games. If anyone can break the Italians down that he looks the player capable of doing so.

The other game Tuesday evening sees Valencia take on PSG. Bookmakers have Valencia as the 13/9 (Pinnacle) first leg favourites. The Spaniards are nine games unbeaten at home in the Champions League and domestically going well taking 15 points from their last 7 league games. PSG meanwhile are going great in France as they sit six points clear at the top of Ligue 1 winning each of their last four. They won each of their last four group games and five of six in total to finish top of their group in qualification. This included decent wins at Dynamo Kiev and Dinamo Zagreb. Since then the French side have of course have added David Beckham to the mix though it remains to be seen how much he will feature. If you want to get with PSG then you can back them at 43/19 (Pinnacle) while the draw is a best priced 23/10 (general).

Maybe it is the Italian influence of Carlo Ancelotti but one of the key aspects of PSG away games is the way they have looked to keep matches tight. In their three away games in the group stages they conceded just once while domestically they have kept a clean sheet in a remarkable eight of their last nine matches. Bookmakers seemed to have the under 2.5 goals maket covered so a better way to play this is taking NO in the both teams to score market which is available at 28/29 with 32 Red. Despite the presence of goalscoring talent like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Roberto Soldado I think this game will be tight with few chances.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Celtic +0.5 on Asian Handicap v Juventus, 15/13 (Pinnacle)
SILVER: No in both teams to score between Valencia and PSG, 28/29 (32 Red)
BRONZE: Kris Commons to score v Juventus, first 13/1 (betway) anytime 17/4 (BWin)

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12/02/2013     © Frixo 2024