Champions League Betting – FC Porto vs. Bayern Munich
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
FC Porto (+400) vs. Bayern Munich (-142, 3 o/u)
Next Wednesday (April 15), FC Porto and Bayern Munich will start their battle for a place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League as the Bavarians travel to Portugal for the first leg of the two-game series (2:45 PM Eastern).
Bayern, unbeaten on Portuguese soil, will start as away favorites, currently sitting at -142. Pep Guardiola’s squad is looking to get to the semifinals for the third season in a row, and second under the current manager.
The Bavarians have fared extremely well both domestically and in the UCL this year. They are close to clinching another Bundesliga title and come into Tuesday’s game on the heels of a 7-0 trouncing of Shakhtar Donetsk 7-0 in the Round of 16.
Despite being heavy favorites to take the two-game series, Munich are not overlooking Porto and their potent offense.
“There are no doubt trickier opponents, but [Porto] have shown their quality,” captain Phillip Lahm told Bayern’s official website. “[O]ne thing is clear: we want to advance to the last four.”
Bayern have been road warriors in the UCL in recent times, winning six of their last ten away games, including a 7-1 win over AS Roma in Italy during this season’s group stage.
Porto, meanwhile, advanced to the quarterfinals by soundly drubbing Basel 5-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16. The team managed a 1-1 draw away, and then exploded for four goals (from four different goal scorers) at home in the second leg.
Porto have a decent home record against German opponents, going 7-3-3, all time. They are also undefeated at home in this year’s Champions League, with four wins and a draw. But Porto have never beaten Bayern Munich in European competitions, posting a 0-2-2 record.
Though Porto have been solid at home, look for Bayern’s quality to overwhelm the Portuguese side. The Bayern moneyline (-142) looks like the best value on the board.
(Photo credit: André Zehetbauer (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
