Just last week we saw the first leg of the three major European club football competitions played across the continent in the Champions League, Europa League and the Europa Conference League and those games certainly produced a mixed bag of results.
Just like last season’s games at the same stage of the tournaments, there was plenty of interest for Premier League teams with a total of five involved in the three competitions, plus Scottish Champions Rangers for those affiliated to the Gers north of the border.
All six of those teams, plus a host of others, will be hoping that they can come through the second leg of their ties this week and clinch a spot in their respective competition’s semi finals.
Some teams have made a great start towards achieving that, while for the majority, the tie very much hangs in the balance as we head towards this weeks key games.
In this article, we are going to preview each of the second leg ties this week, as well as give you details on how the first leg games went.
We will also give you some tips on those games, with odds provided by bet365 Sport.
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Let’s begin our look through the action taking place in Europe this week by starting with the games on Tuesday and Wednesday night in the Champions League.
Villarreal’s win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of this tie was the big surprise in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg and the Spaniards also beat Juventus 3-0 away from home in the last round to earn a shot at the German Champions. Bayern though won’t be too concerned as they are superb at home and I would expect them to come through with a comfortable enough victory here to progress. Back Bayern to win at 2/9.
Perhaps the best performance of any team in the first leg of the quarterfinals was Real Madrid’s superb win over Chelsea, given to them courtesy of another Karim Benzema hat-trick. The Frenchman put Chelsea to the sword with a clinical display of finishing and this puts the Londoners in a huge hole heading into the second leg in Madrid. I can’t see anything here other than another win for Real Madrid which is a 7/5 shot.
Wednesday 13th April
Atletico Madrid tried their best to strangle the life out of the game at the Etihad. They did not manage a shot on goal in the entire game but they did keep City to just one goal. However, in the second leg they are going to have to come out and try and break down City and that looks a big ask given how City are playing at the moment. As such, I am still backing Manchester City to land the win here as a 4/5 shot.
Liverpool withstood a second half fightback from Benfica in Lisbon and Luis Diaz late goal has given the Reds a comfortable lead for the game at Anfield. The Reds may rotate their squad after the game with Man City at the weekend but even so, they should still be far too strong for Benfica and I would be hugely surprised if Liverpool don’t end up with a decent win to put them into the semi final here. Back the Reds at 2/7.
A hard fought game in Germany saw the goals shared in what was an intriguing clash. Both of these sides know how to score goals, but are not the best defensively, but we got a rather unusual cagier game between the two that sets up an intriguing second leg in northern Italy. Atalanta for me are the slightly better team, but their home form does worry me. However Leipzig’s defence has been leaky all season so I am backing Atalanta to win at 29/20.
West Ham did well to earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg, playing the second half with ten men after Aaron Cresswell was sent off, but heading into this game level is a big ask for the Londoners. Lyon are unbeaten in their last seven games against English sides and have not lost in nine Europa League games this season. However, I think West Ham showed against Sevilla that they can get the job done and so I am backing a draw here ay 13/5 with the winner decided by extra time and penalties.
A 1-1 draw in the first leg leaves this tie in the balance, but the odds have swung very much in favour of Barcelona given the second leg is at the Nou Camp. However, they face a Frankfurt side who have never lost a European game in Spain against Spanish opponents. That will make this game a little more interesting but in truth, I can’t see any way that Barcelona do not win the game and progress through. Take the home side Barca here at 4/9.
This was the only Europa League game to play to a victory for either side and it was Braga who claimed the first leg win. Rangers though warmed up for this game with a good win on Sunday and they are good enough to win the game and at least take the game to extra time. As such, I am backing that to happen here, so it is a Rangers win for me at 10/11, but I think we may need extra time or penalties to decide the winner.
The highest scoring game of all the quarterfinal 1st leg ties last week was a cracker in Rotterdam but Slavia Prague will be confident of progressing here after drawing the away leg. The Czech side have been one of the contenders at this stage of European tournaments over the last few years and yet they are still the 9/5 underdogs to win this game. I think that is a very good price and so I would take Slavia to land the win here.
PAOK will be pleased with grabbing a goal away to the French side but Marseille do hold that advantage and I think that the French side will likely prevail simply because they have so much quality in the team compared to their opponents. Payet is still producing the goods and his winner last week was a beautiful strike. I think this one ends in a draw, which is 23/10 with bet365, but that will put Marseille through.
I was quite surprised this game finished goalless in the first leg as I did assume both would score a goal. Leicester’s form this season hasn’t been great and this is their only chance of silverware so I don’t think they are out of this. My money is actually on these two teams battling out a draw once again here and then extra time and maybe even penalties needed to decide the winner and in that case, either team could progress, so back the draw here at 13/5 at the 90 minutes.
Bodo Glimt inflicted a humiliating defeat on Roma in the group stages of this competition, but it looked like Roma would gain revenge in the first leg, taking a first half lead, but the Norwegian side bounced back in the second half to secure a narrow win. However, at home, the Italian side should be more than confident of turning around the deficit and landing the win they need in order to progress. Take Roma for the win here at 1/3.
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