Joe Casey
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The Champions League quarterfinal first-leg action continues on Wednesday with the week’s final two games in Spain and Italy.
There is a contrast in the two matchups, with Real Madrid vs Chelsea pitching together two of the competitions recent champions, who will be meeting in this competition for the third straight season. Chelsea advanced in 2020-21, but Madrid progressed last season, despite Chelsea winning on the road. The other tie is an all-Italian matchup between AC Milan and Napoli which could provide great entertainment.
We’ve picked out our best bets for each of those games below and you can check out our picks for all this week’s games in our soccer predictions. Both Wednesday games kick off at 3:oo pm ET and can be viewed on Paramount+, with CBS also showing Real Madrid vs Chelsea. Odds shown are available at the time of publishing.
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Real Madrid vs Chelsea best bet: Real Madrid ML (-140)
Chelsea has fired coach Graham Potter and brought back former manager Frank Lampard on an interim basis until the end of the season, hoping the former England midfielder can inspire the Blues to an unlikely Champions League victory. Standing in the way of the underachieving London club are holders Real Madrid, who have played the Blues in the knockout rounds of this competition in the last two seasons. Chelsea’s Premier League form has been poor and they are down in 11th place with just 2 wins in the last 11 games, including a 1-0 loss to Wolves in Lampard’s first game.
However, the first-leg visitors for this Champions League quarterfinal can take some hope from Madrid having lost 2 of its last 3 La Liga games. Carlo Ancelotti’s team demonstrated a ruthless ability in cup competitions earlier in the month, though, when they came back from a 1-0 deficit in the Copa del Rey first leg against rivals Barcelona to win 4-0 in the second game. Los Blancos easily dispatched Liverpool in the Champions League round of 16 too, and should be able to win this. Bettors looking for a bigger return than a simple Madrid ML bet might wish to parlay it with both teams to score in the game, as Madrid’s defense can be exploited and Chelsea has some high-class offensive players, even if they have not lived up to their potential for much of the season.
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AC Milan vs Napoli best bet: Over 2.5 goals (+132)
Two Italian heavyweights do battle when Napoli visits Milan in the first leg of this Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday. Napoli is set to win its first Scudetto since 1990 and has been one of the most impressive teams in Europe this season and won the teams’ first meeting this season 2-1. However, Milan scored a stunning 4-0 road win when the teams met again in Serie A just 10 days ago, so the stage is set for another great game.
That Milan win was achieved when Napoli was missing star man Victor Osimhen and he has again been ruled out for this clash, but there is still optimism that there will be goals in this game. The teams’ first 2 meetings have both featured over 2.5 goals, and that bet has also cashed in 6 of Napoli’s 8 Champions League games this season.
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