Rob Alexander finds some decent value bets in the first match day of the Champions League
Last night was not a good start to the Champions League picks for us, with Arsenal nearly beating Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donestsk having two players sent off in a match where they could have easily given us some profit.
Wednesday night sees teams from Groups A-D play their first matches and there are plenty of interesting fixtures to take a look at and find some decent bets from.
Group A could easily be the group of death, with teams from the top four ranked leagues in Europe participating. Manchester City take on Napoli at Eastlands in the first ever Champions League group stage match to be played in the blue half of Manchester. Villarreal take on German giants Bayern Munich to complete the Group A fixtures.
Manchester City's more successful neighbours Manchester United have vast experience in the Champions League and travel to Portugal to play Benfica in probably their toughest match of the whole campaign. In the other match in Group C FC Basel of Switzerland take on relative unknowns and Romanian Champions Otelul Galati at St Jakob Park.
In Group B, Lille face a tough test at home to CSKA Moscow but will be hoping the quality of player like Joe Cole and Eden Hazard will prove too much for their Russian rivals. Inter Milan, who won the tournament under the management of Jose Mourinho, are in worrying form going into their match against Turkish side Trabzonspor at the San Siro. Inter lost 4-3 to Palermo in their opening Serie A match, conceding four goals in the Serie A for the first time in over seven years.
Jose Mourinho is now managing Real Madrid and they travel to Zagreb in their Group D opener against probably the weakest side in a tough group. Ajax play Lyon in Amsterdam in the other Group D match, which is a tie between two Champions League regulars that is very hard to predict.
Wednesday Picks
FC Basel v Otelul Galati
The Swiss Champions FC Basel will be hoping to take all three points in this match to make sure they have a chance of qualification for the next round in a tough group with Manchester United and Benfica their big rivals.
Finding a bet in this match may be a bit of a gamble as Otelul Galati are almost complete unknowns other than they won the Romanian League last season. This feat should not be taken lightly as they were well clear of all the Bucharest teams and recent Champions League surprise package CFR Cluj.
The Swiss side should have too much for their Romanian rivals but I see some value in backing the away side with a head start, solely because they are an unknown quantity.
FC Basel are rarely a high scoring team and could easily be complacent against a side that is new to the Champions League and determined to make an impact by causing an upset.
Bet 2 points on Otelul Galati +0.75 at 2.2 with bet365. Those punters willing to risk a bit more can back Otelul Galati +0.5 at 2.42 at bet365.
Manchester City v Napoli
Manchester City are in irresistible form in the Premier League this season with players like Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko giving them a very exciting attacking line.
Their opponents in this match cannot be discounted and have quality all over the pitch who can compete with Manchester City if they play at their best. With players like Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marek Hamsik and Edinson Cavini in their ranks, Napoli are not to be taken lightly .
Manchester City have certainly been given a baptism of fire in their first ever Champions League group stage. With fixtures against the likes of Villarreal and Bayern Munich to follow it will certainly not be easy for City to qualify for the next round, but they are under a lot of pressure to do so with a squad of such quality.
I have a feeling that the pressure won't affect City too much, as their squad is full of players with experience at the highest level but there are bound to be a lot of nerves among the players and fans at Eastlands as the club make their debut in the world's biggest club competition.
Having said that I fancy a good Napoli side to cause problems and be very tough to break down, so I'm backing the Italians with a decent head start.
Bet 2 points on Napoli +1.25 at 2.01 with Victor Chandler. There may well be some value in Napoli +1 at 2.37 with Paddy Power.