This week sees the return of the Champions League, with the group stage getting under way. Europe’s elite finally start their push for the biggest trophy in football, and the group stage is usually always packed with goals. The final in Wales feels a long way away and there’s a lot of action to cover before it gets that far – and hopefully a lot of goals.
The return of the Champions League proper should bring us some entertaining ties. We’ve got Leicester’s competition debut coming this week, while Tottenham make a return. There’s also PSG against Arsenal to look forward to, and the meeting of the Italian champions and the Europa League holders. Here we’ve taken a look over the European fixtures, including the Europa League, and picked out our both teams to score bets. We’re backing a high scoring first week of European clashes.
Tuesday 13th September 2016
- PSG v Arsenal (3/4 with Coral) – Neither of these teams are that reliable at the back, but they both have strong attacking midfield talent. This could be a very close game, and we’re backing both sides to score.
- Man City v Borussia Monchengladbach (4/7 with Sky Bet) – Man City’s defence hasn’t quite adjusted to Guardiola’s style. They’ve leaked a few goals already this season, and we can see their backline continuing to struggle in Europe.
- Dynamo Kiev v Napoli (4/5 with Bet365) – Italian sides other than Juventus tend to struggle in this competition. A trip to Ukraine isn’t exactly what Napoli need right now, and we can see them shipping a few goals away to a Dynamo side who made the second round last season.
Wednesday 14th September 2016
- Juventus v Sevilla (11/10 with Betfair) – Sevilla’s first game under new coach Jorge Sampoli was a 6-4 win against Espanyol. They are an incredibly attacking outfit, and we can see them being wide open when they take on Italian champions Juventus.
- Club Brugge v Leicester (10/11 with Coral) – Leicester’s first ever Champions League game has fallen pretty kindly for them. They should have more than enough about them to see off Club Brugge, but we can’t see the Foxes keeping a clean sheet. So far this season they’ve looked pretty open, they’re clearly missing N’Golo Kante.
- Tottenham v Monaco (19/20 with Betfair) – Monaco scored in every game in qualifying, but they conceded quite a few on their way to the group stage. Tottenham should be able to take advantage of their poor defending, but it’s hard to see them keeping a clean sheet.
Thursday 15th September 2016
- Feyenoord v Manchester United (16/19 with BetVictor) – United’s Europa League line-ups will be a far cry from their Premier League side. Jose Mourinho isn’t taking this competition 100% seriously at this early stage, so expect a disjointed second string to take the field for United. That gives Feyenoord a great opportunity to score, although they’ll still have to fear Marcus Rashford and co.