The Uefa Champions League Round of 16 gets underway on Tuesday night when RB Leipzig take on Liverpool at a neutral venue and Liverpool are favourites to take a first leg lead.
It's knockout football from here onwards and before we look at this match lets take in an outright betting update to be crowned UCL champions.
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RB Leipzig 2/1 Draw 23/10 Liverpool 13/10
First up the venue is significant as Covid has forced the game to be staged outside of Germany and the clubs and Uefa agreed on Budapest for this first leg and the return will be as scheduled, at Anfield on 10th March.
Leipzig came through the group stage as runners up to PSG, missing out on top spot on goal difference with Manchester United third and Basaksehir a distant fourth. Leipzig won 4 and lost 2 of their group matches and they had mixed fortunes against Man United who thrashed them 5-0 at Old Trafford before the Bundesliga side edged a 5 goal thriller in a Matchday 6 “virtual eliminator” in Germany. They also beat PSG (2-1) in a home fixture but lost 1-0 in Paris.
In the Bundesliga Leipzig are in second spot, 4 points behind Bayern who also have a game in hand. Their home record comprised of 9 wins,1 draw and 1 defeat so the impact of having to play this match in Hungary could be a factor.
Liverpool had a pretty comfortable passage into the the knockout rounds. They topped their group ahead of Atalanta with Ajax third and Midtjylland never got in a blow. Liverpool won 4, drew 1 and lost 1 of their matches and when points were dropped they had opted to rest a number of key players. All 4 of Liverpool's group stage wins were accompanied by a clean sheet but since then their central defensive injury crisis deepened and more recently their goalkeeper has endured a couple of traumatic Premier League which ended in defeat.
In the EPL Liverpool are now 13 points behind Manchester City who also have a game in hand. Given they are out of both domestic cup competitions the Champions League and a top 4 finish are the targets for the remainder of the season.
The Verdict
Liverpool have a home leg to come but the way things have been going of late suggests to me their best form of defence is attack and I will take a chance on
Klopp's side scoring at least twice.
Bets: Away team goals over 1.5 at 9/10
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Note all prices quoted are subject to change
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