The Champions League returns this week, with Barcelona facing a huge task in their push for the quarter finals. Will this week’s offering match up to the shocking first leg ties? Arsenal are aiming to overturn a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich, and Napoli are aiming to come back from 3-1 down against Real Madrid. While we might not get that many surprises, we can certainly expect to see another week packed full of goals.
The first batch of Champions League last 16 second legs seem pretty open, with the exception of Borussia Dortmund’s meeting with Benfica. Otherwise those three ties and the Europa League last 16 matches should give us plenty of entertainment during the week. With so many high scoring sides in action, we think this is a perfect time to have a both teams to score accumulator. We’ve picked out our BTTS tips for this week, which you can see below.
Tuesday 7th March 2017
- Arsenal v Bayern Munich (4/9 with Sky Bet) – The Gunners need to respond from their 5-1 defeat against Bayern in Germany. They have little chance of overturning that loss, but they should still push forward for a second leg win to at least salvage some dignity. We can see Arsenal scoring, but we don’t expect them to manage to keep a clean sheet.
- Napoli v Real Madrid (4/9 with Betfair) – After a 3-1 win in the first leg, Real need an away goal here. Napoli have a prolific front three and attacking options on the bench, so they’re likely to get on the scoresheet at home.
Wednesday 8th March 2017
- Barcelona v PSG (3/5 with BetVictor) – We see this being the most open tie of the week, as PSG’s advantage allows them to push forward for an away goal that would definitely kill things off. Barca will be out to mount a fightback and to send a message, but their defence doesn’t seem strong enough to stop the French side.
Thursday 9th March 2017
- Lyon v Roma (8/15 with Sky Bet) – Roma hit four at goal-shy Villarreal in the last round, and now they face a Lyon team who have scored 11 times in the last 32 matches. This game is certainly one to keep an eye on if you’re looking for goals galore.
- Gent v Genk (evens with Betfair) – Genk have scored in every away Europa League game, and that should continue against their Belgian rivals. Gent have scored in all but one European game, so they should find the net in this clash too, bring home our BTTS bet.
- Schalke v Borussia Monchengladbach (8/11 with Ladbrokes) – these two German sides are both potential winners, especially after Gladbach put four past Fiorentina away from home in the last round. Schalke have scored in every home European game, so we’re backing both sides to score in this first leg.
- Rostov v Man United (11/10 with Coral) – Bayern Munich conceded three at Rostov, which makes the BTTS odds for the Europa League favourites’ trip to Russia seem huge.