Uefa Champions League Round 2 continues on Wednesday night when our focus is on Aston Villa v Bayern Munich and Benfica v Atletico Madrid
There are 9 more matches on Wednesday's coupon including Liverpool (1/5 home to Bologna) and Real Madrid (6/10 away to Lille). Let's focus on our two featured match ups.
Aston Villa 31/10 Draw 3/1 Bayern Munich 8/10
Villa qualified thanks to a fourth place EPL finish last season and they made an impressive start with a 3-0 win away to Young Boys thanks to first half goals from Tielemans and Ramsay and Onana added the third late on.
After six rounds of matches in the EPL Villa have won 4, drawn 1 and lost 1 and are in fifth spot. They had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Ipswich at the weekend and aside from a 2-0 home defeat to Arsenal they have found the net at least twice in all their other league games but have yet to keep a clean sheet.
Last season Villa were in the Europa Conference League where they made it to the semi finals.
Bayern were the biggest winners on Matchday 1 when they thrashed Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 in Munich. Harry Kane scored 4 goals, 3 from the penalty spot and Olise grabbed a brace in a one sided contest.
Bayern currently top the Bundesliga with a record of 4 wins and 1 draw. They were held 1-1 at home to Leverkusen last weekend and they scored 16 goals in winning their first 4 league outings.
Bayern made it to the semi finals last season, breezing through the group stage as usual before seeing off Lazio and Arsenal in the first two knockout rounds. They ran eventual champions Real Madrid close in the semis where they bowed out 4-3 on aggregate.
The Verdict
Harry Kane picked up a knock late in the weekend draw with Leverkusen and whilst at the time of writing it was not thought to be serious, it might be worth holding fire and waiting for confirmation of his well being.
I'm going to chance my arm with Sportingbet's price boost on Watkins and Bayern's Olise to both have over 1.5 shots on target.
Bets: Ollie Watkins and Michael Olise to both have over 1.5 shots on target, was 17/2 now 19/2 with Sportingbet
Benfica 19/10 Draw 23/10 Atletico Madrid 14/10
Benfica made a strong start to their opening UCL match, taking a 2-0 lead away to Red Star Belgrade in the first half hour thanks to goals from Aktürkoğlu and Kökçü. It stayed that well until the 86th minute when Red Star pulled one back but Benfica had done enough and came away with a 2-1 win.
After 7 rounds of matches Benfica are third in Portugal's top flight with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat and they have won all 4 of their home matches.
Benfica failed to make it out of the UCL group stage last season, finishing a distant third to Sociedad and Inter and after finding themselves in the Europa League knockout rounds they exited at the quarter final stage, losing to Marseille on spot kicks.
Atletico came from behind to beat RB Leipzig 2-1 in Madrid on Matchday 1. They conceded after just 4 minutes but Griezmann levelled things up just before the half hour mark. As the clock hit 90 minutes it was Griezmann who was involved again, setting up Jose Maria Gimenez for what proved to be the winner.
After 8 rounds of matches in La Liga Atletico are unbeaten with 4 wins and 4 draws and they are in fourth spot, 4 points off the pace being set by Barcelona. They drew 1-1 at home to Real in the Madrid derby at the weekend.
Last season Atletico came through the group stage unbeaten with 4 wins and 2 draws. They edged past Inter in the Round of 16 but lost a humdinger of a quarter final to Dortmund 5-4 on aggregate.
The Verdict
Any winner here will be in a strong position. Slight preference is for Atletico but I rather have seen a couple of those La Liga draws end in victory. They beat a useful Leipzig side on Matchday 1 though and still might have enough to edge this one.
Bets: Atletico to win at 14/10 with Sportingbet
Note, prices quoted are subject to change
GFTG Newsletter
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
