Champions League: Bayer Leverkusen vs Barcelona Odds and Betting Preview

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY - Champions of Europe Barcelona travel to Germany in the first leg of their Champions League second round tie tonight. Bayer Leverkusen are the hosts, with the home advantage first in the tie, and the German side are best at 9/1 (bet £1 to win £9) only with William Hill to win the game tonight. Barcelona are unsurprisingly heavy favourites to win the game at 4/9, best with Paddy Power while punters can get 4/1 on the draw, with Boylesports and William Hill.

Leverkusen are hoping to emulate their German counterparts Schalke, who managed to surprise Europe by getting past a series of high-profile names last season in the competition to reach the semi-finals. Overcoming Barcelona will be a huge ask for the German side however, with the Catalan team an incredibly short 1/9 with Boylesports and Paddy Power to qualify from the two-legged tie, into the quarter-finals. Leverkusen are best at 11/1 on Betfair to progress.

In the group stage Leverkusen did manage to beat both Chelsea and Valencia at home, both 2-1, which gives them hope in tonight's tie. Another 2-1 home victory is 30/1 with Coral, while a 1-0 home win is 20/1 with Bet365.

Barcelona are 13/2 with Bet Victor and Blue Square to win 1-0, 6/1 to win 2-0 with Bet Victor and 9/1 with the same firm to win 3-0.

Barcelona did not lose a game in the group stage, dropping only two points at home to Milan, before beating them at the San Siro as well as Viktoria Plzen and BATE Borisov at home and away. Away to Plzen they won 4-0 while they won 5-0 away to BATE and they are evens with most firms to win with a (-1) goal handicap tonight - go to Blue Square, Bet Victor and Boylesports for that price. They are 13/5 with Paddy Power to win with a (-2) goal handicap and 9/2 with Bet Victor to win by four goals or more. 

Punters may want to shy away from that market however, for two reasons. Barcelona would most probably be happy with a score draw, given they are away from home, and can rely on an imperious home record to see them through the tie in the second leg. Additionally they lost away to Osasuna at the weekend, suffering defeat for the first time since 2011, and conceding 3 at the time (going down 3-2). They can't afford to concede three again and will most likely set up more defensively.

It may therefore be worth looking at the goals market - it is so unlikely Leverkusen will be able to keep Barcelona out for 90 minutes, and Sky Bet are offering 4/9 that Barca score two or more goals. Stan James are offering 13/8 for Barcelona to score over 2.5 goals, with over 3.5 at 10/3 with Bet365. The Catalan side are 1/5 to win either half with Betfred, 21/10 with Paddy Power to win both halves, while Leverkusen are 10/3 with Coral to win either half. 

Leverkusen, under coach Robin Dutt, will most likely play a 4-2-3-1 formation with Renato Augusto at the centre of the attacking 3, with Andre Schurrle and Castro either side of him. Michael Ballack, Tranquillo Barnetta, Rene Adler and Eren Derdiyok are all out through injury. 

Barcelona will most likely hand returns to Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas after resting them at the weekend, while Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique should also both be available after suffering respective injuries.

 Lionel Messi is odds-on to score anytime tonight, 8/11 with Blue Square and Coral, while Fabregas is 8/5 with Bet Victor, Sanchez is 11/10 with most firms and Iniesta is 13/5 with Stan James.

Match Result Odds