Barcelona host Napoli in the second leg of their Uefa Champions League Round of 16 clash on Saturday, the scores are level at 1-1 and Barca are favourites to finish the job.
The first leg of this tie was staged back on the 25th February. Mertens gave Napoli a first half lead but Barca hit back with an equalizer from Griezmann just before the hour mark and there was no further scoring.
The second leg will be staged at Camp Nou and the draw for the quarter finals has already been made. Those last 8 ties and the semi's and final will take place in Portugal, determined over 1 leg and whoever goes through here will almost certainly come up against Bayern Munich who lead Chelsea 3-0 with a home leg to come.
Let's recap on how these teams fared earlier in the competition and in their domestic leagues.
Barcelona
Barca breezed the group stage stage with 4 wins and 2 draws to finish ahead of Dortmund, Inter and Slavia Prague. In La Liga Barca finished in the runners up spot, 5 points behind Real Madrid.
In the outright betting to win the Champions League this season Barca are trading at around 17/2. Last season Barca made it all the way to unbelievable UCL semi final against Liverpool which they led 3-0 after the first leg but subsequently lost 4-3 on aggregate.
Napoli
Napoli were also unbeaten in the group stage and they progressed alongside Liverpool in what was a 2 horse race. A 2-0 home win over last seasons UCL winners and a draw at Anfied were the stand out results. In Serie A Napoli battled for consistency and eventually finished a remote seventh.
In the betting to be crowned Uefa Champions this season Napoli are trading in the region of 65/1.
The Betting
Barca can be backed at around 13/20 to win the second leg with the draw available at 7/2 and you should find odds 4/1 or so for Napoli to win in regulation time.
As far as the goals markets are concerned it's 13/20 for both sides to find the net in 90 minutes and a game of 3 goals or more in total is 6/10.
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Verdict:
After coming second in their domestic title race the pressure is on Barca but I believe they will have too much for a Napoli side who are very dangerous on their day but don't always put it together.
A home win in a game of 3 goals or more in total is my idea of the outcome.
Bets: Matchbet + Totals , over 2.5 and Barca win at 21/10.
Note, odds are subject to change
