Europe’s flagship competition is back on the agenda folks, because next week, the Champions League Round of 16 will hit our screens with the first eight clubs set to do battle.
While favourites Manchester City and Serie A runaway leaders Napoli are scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of February, the pick of the first week’s fixtures sees the blockbuster clash between Paris Saint-Germain and FC Bayern.
Of all the Champions League 2023 results over the next couple of weeks, this clash between the champions of France and Germany is the most highly anticipated.
At SBOTOP odds of 7.00 and 7.50, PSG and Die Bayern are second and third favourites for the title and the winner of this clash will rapidly drop in price. The first leg outcome might throw up a favourite, but at odds of 2.44 and 2.50 to win, it’s hard to split Paris and Munich.
It’s a rather different story in their domestic leagues though, as PSG have moved eight points clear at the top of Ligue 1 while Bayern are in a real fight, just one point clear of Union Berlin at the top of the Bundesliga and with Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig breathing down their necks.
And the club has had off-field problems to deal with, which head coach Julian Nagelsmann really doesn’t need at the moment.
Club legend and national team goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has been busy doing interviews in the German press which have been less than complimentary of the club. His gripe surrounds the sacking of goalkeeper coach Toni Tapalovic and that hasn’t gone down well with the Munich hierarchy, particularly after their star returned from a midseason skiing trip with a broken leg.
Bayern moved immediately to bring the excellent Yann Sommer in as a replacement, but Neuer is a big character who epitomizes the success the club has enjoyed over the past decade.
The fact that he has broken ranks will not help the mood at Bayern, but officials say they will not follow the example of Manchester United, who parted company with Cristiano Ronaldo after he did his media revelations in the UK press.
This latest headache for Bayern came a week after their forward Serge Gnabry was photographed at the Paris Fashion Week during a day off training. The club’s sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, called Gnabry’s behavior amateurish and it’s difficult to disagree with him.
It’s hardly the way the German champions expect their players to carry themselves and the once unbreakable unit is showing signs of weakness off the pitch.
These problems won’t necessarily translate themselves onto the pitch, of course, but they won’t help and Die Bayern will think themselves fortunate that Kylian Mbappe is doubtful for their clash with PSG; but a certain Lionel Messi will be looking forward to making Bayern’s problems worse.
Conflicting form of London’s Big Two
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea are both in action next week in fascinating duels with AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund. Spurs will meet I Rossoneri; on the crest of a wave having just beaten Manchester City as Harry Kane became the club’s top scorer of all time, notching his 267th goal in the shock 1-0 victory.
In contrast, Milan have just lost their third league match on the bounce to drop to sixth in the Serie A table and 18 points behind leaders Napoli. To make matters worse, the latest defeat was in the Milan derby, and in their previous two matches they were spanked 5-2 by Sassuolo and 4-0 by Lazio.
Kane will be licking his lips.
While Tottenham are well in the hunt for a top four place, Graham Potter’s Chelsea are ninth in the Premier League with just one win from their last six league games and they could only pick up a point from their West London derby against Fulham last Friday.
Owner Todd Boehly has spent upwards of £400-M on players since his arrival last summer and, while this is a transitional period for the club, such expensive talent really can’t take too long to blossom.
And next week they will meet a BVB side banging in form. Borussia’s 5-1 win over top four rivals SC Freiburg made it six wins on the bounce, scoring a whopping 22 goals along the way.
The latest Champions League 2023 betting odds back neither Club Brugges nor Benfica to make it to the last four, but one of them will be a single step away after this two-leg battle, which starts in Belgium on Wednesday 15th February.
Benfica come into the game in better form but Brugges have been brilliant in this competition so far, seeing off Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid at the group stage.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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