This week is a pivotal week in European football and one that will see 20 teams eliminated from their respective competition.
Four teams have already been eliminated from last week’s Champions League games and this week, the remainder will also go.
That will leave fans eager to find out the draw for the quarterfinal in each of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
And with plenty of big teams left in each competition, it promises to be an interesting week of European football to say the least.
Remember, you can enjoy a wide range of betting on all games in the three big European competitions with bet365 Sport, which not only offers futures betting and pre-match odds on all games in each competition, but also extensive In Play betting too.
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Let’s now begin our look at the key games this week that will decide the quarterfinal spots in each competition with a look at how things stand in the Champions League.
Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg
The Champions League Round of 16 2nd leg ties began with four games last week, which saw the following results:
- Benfica 5-1 Club Brugge (Benfica win 7-1 on aggregate)
- Chelsea 2-0 Dortmund (Chelsea win 2-1 on aggregate)
- Tottenham 0-0 AC Milan (AC Milan win 1-0 on aggregate)
- Bayern Munich 2-0 Paris St Germain (Bayern win 3-0 on aggregate)
This means that AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Chelsea all go forward into the quarterfinal draw.
They will be joined by four teams from the following fixtures and our tips for each game is shown below.
- FC Porto (0) v (1) Inter Milan
Inter took advantage of the sending off of Otavio in the second half to snatch the advantage in this tie with an 86th minute strike from Romelu Lukaku.
The Italian team have never won in Portugal against these opponents though and this does look like a tough game for them.
Porto have a good home record and I am backing them to win on the night, but we may require extra time and even penalties to decide the winner of the tie.
Tip – FC Porto to win – 8/5
- Manchester City (1) v (1) Red Bull Leipzig
A 1-1 draw in Germany was probably about a fair reflection on the game but at home, Manchester City should be confident of the win.
Leipzig lost 6-3 on their last visit to the Etihad and their away form in Europe suggests that they are the underdogs here.
City have had excellent home for in Europe and domestically this season and I am backing them to land the win here to take them through to the next round.
Tip – Manchester City to win and both teams to score – 2/1
- Napoli (2) v (0) Eintracht Frankfurt
The Italian league leaders were superb in the first leg in Germany and earned a 2-0 win to take into the home leg in Naples.
Frankfurt battled hard but the extra quality Napoli possessed going forward was just too much for the German side to cope with.
As such, I think Napoli make light work of progressing into the quarterfinals with a comfortable win on home soil.
Tip – Napoli to win 3-0 – 9/1
- Real Madrid (5) v (2) Liverpool
Real Madrid dismantled Liverpool in the first leg at Anfield, coming back from an early 2-0 deficit to storm to a 5-2 victory that all but ensures that they will progress into the quarter finals.
Liverpool need another miracle here but unlike the Barcelona game, they are not at Anfield and are against a team that has won six of the last seven games they have played against them, drawing the other,
I am quite surprised Real are not odds on to win this game, so I would take them here to land another win to progress comfortably.
Tip – Real Madrid to win – 5/4 with bet365
Europa League Round of 16 2nd Leg Tips
Last week, we previewed each of the Round of 16 First Leg ties in the Europa League and listed below is how each game turned out, together with our preview and tip for that particular game.
Europa League Round of 16 1st Leg Results
- Sporting Lisbon 2-2 Arsenal
- Union Berlin 3-3 Union Saint-Gilloise
- Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Ferencvaros
- AS Roma 2-0 Real Sociedad
- Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1 Feyenoord
- Manchester United 4-1 Real Betis
- Juventus 1-0 SC Freiburg
- Sevilla 2-0 Fenerbahce
Europa League Round of 16 2nd Leg Tips
- Arsenal (2) v (2) Sporting Lisbon – Home Win – 4/11
- Union Saint-Gilloise (3) v (3) Union Berlin – Home Win – 11/5
- Ferencvaros (0) v (2) Bayer Leverkusen – Away Win – 10/11
- Real Sociedad (0) v (2) AS Roma – Draw – 11/5
- Feyenoord (1) v (1) Shakhtar Donetsk – Home Win – 1/2
- Real Betis (1) v (4) Manchester United – Away Win – 19/20
- SC Freiburg (0) v (1) Juventus – Draw – 11/5
- Fenerbahce (0) v (2) Sevilla – Draw – 5/2
If you back these eight results in an 8-fold accumulator at the prices stated with bet365 Sport, then you could get odds of 872.3/1 on the bet.
Europa Conference League Round of 16 2nd Leg Tips
The Europa Conference League is now at the same stage as the Europa League so let’s take a look at how the first leg of the Round of 16 ties panned out.
Europa Conference League Round of 16 – 1st Leg Results
- Gent (1) v (1) Istanbul Basaksehir
- Fiorentina (1) v (0) Sivasspor
- Lech Poznan (2) v (0) Djurgarden
- FC Basel (2) v (2) Slovan Bratislava
- Lazio (1) v (2) AZ Alkmaar
- Sheriff Tiraspol (0) v (1) Nice
- Anderlecht (1) v (1) Villarreal
- AEK Larnaca (0) v (2) West Ham United
Europa Conference League Round of 16 – 2nd Leg Tips
- Istanbul Basaksehir (1) v (1) Gent – Home Win – 23/10
- Sivasspor (0) v (1) Fiorentina – Draw – 3/1
- Djurgarden (0) v (2) Lech Poznan – Away Win – 7/4
- Slovan Bratislava (2) v (2) FC Basel – Draw – 9/4
- AZ Alkmaar (2) v (1) Lazio – Away Win – 29/20
- Nice (1) v (0) Sheriff Tiraspol – Home Win – 4/9
- Villarreal (1) v (1) Anderlecht – Home Win – 4/9
- West Ham (2) v (0) AEK Larnaca – Home Win – 1/4
Place an eightfold accumulator on these tips above with bet365 Sport and at the prices shown above, which were correct at the time of writing, you can get odds of 490.12/1.
Remainder of Season
From this point of the season onwards, all three European competitions will continue from the quarter final stage.
All quarterfinal and semifinal ties are played over two legs, home and away.
Each final is a one-off game with extra time and penalties used to decide the winner.
The dates and venues for each final this year are as follows:
- Europa Conference League Final – 7th June – Eden Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
- Europa League Final – 31st May – Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- Champions League Final – 10th June – Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey
