Steve Davies
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The final 8 games of the UEFA Champions League will be played on Wednesday, with the last places in the round of 16 set to be decided as the top 2 teams in each group of 4 qualify for the next stage. Some issues in today’s groups are already settled — Paris St-Germain and Benfica have already qualified from Group H with 11 points each, for example, while Juventus and Maccabi Haifa are just fighting over 3rd and 4th place.
Manchester City vs Sevilla and Copenhagen vs Dortmund are interesting games in Group G, but our favorite 4 bets for Wednesday’s slate come in other games.
Read on for our Champions League predictions, and remember you can also read this week’s soccer predictions including the weekend’s EPL picks. Odds shown are available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Real Madrid vs Celtic best bet: Real Madrid ML & Both Teams To Score (+120)
By Real Madrid’s high standards, it has not been a good week. A loss in Leipzig on matchday 5 of the Champions League was followed by dropped points in a 1-1 tie against Girona in La Liga. However, Madrid is a master in the art of doing what is required in the big games and a win against Celtic is likely needed to guarantee 1st place in Group F.
The Scottish club is last in the group but has shown spirit and has enough firepower to be able to play a part in an entertaining games. I like the odds of both teams to score in a game that Real wins.
Milan vs RB Salzburg best bet: Tie (+360)
The equation for this game at the San Siro is simple: whoever wins this Group E game will go through to the last 16. A tie would be enough for Milan to go through behind group winners Chelsea. Milan has 7 points, 1 more than Austrian club Salzburg. Their first meeting finished in a 1-1 tie in Salzburg and this game could be close too
Milan has the pedigree but it also has been dealing with some injuries and is coming off a bad 2-1 loss at Torino on Sunday. Maybe the Milan players were looking ahead to this important game that day, but this Salzburg side that is fun to watch but not always reliable in defense is capable of keeping this game close.
Shakhtar vs RB Leipzig best bet: Over 2.5 goals (-160)
Shakhtar Donetsk, which is having to play all its home games in Poland because of the war in Ukraine, has done remarkably well to reach matchday 6 of the Champions League being able to determine its own destiny. If Shakhtar beats Leipzig in Warsaw it will be in the last 16, but a tie or Leipzig win would take the German club through instead.
Leipzig is 7-2-0 in its last 9 games, so confidence should be high now after a poor start to the season, while beating Real Madrid 3-2 last week was a huge result. A tie would be enough for Leipzig but it’s not their style to sit back, so I expect plenty of action and will take over 2.5 goals in the game.
Juventus vs PSG best bet: PSG ML (-165)
The big news in Group H is that Juventus, 2-time European champions and Serie A royalty, is out. Whatever happens in Turin on Wednesday night, Juve will not progress to the last 16. Four losses in 5 group games has wrecked its hopes and reflects its poor league form in Italy.
Juventus would love to at least exit with a win, if only to make sure of 3rd place in the group table and progress into the Europa League. To do that, though, it has to beat PSG and that doesn’t look likely. The French club is unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 ties in the group, but that’s the same record as Benfica, so PSG will want to add another win to take 1st place in the group.
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