Champions League Betting – PSG at Shakhtar Donetsk
PSG (-125) at Shakhtar (+333), Draw (+260)
Shakhtar Donetsk can’t afford another loss in the UEFA Champions League or their chances to advance to the Round of 16 will all but evaporate. Next Wednesday (September 30), the Ukrainians will host a talented Paris Saint-Germain side at Arena Lviv in the second fixture of the UCL (2:45 PM Eastern).
Shakhtar got an unlucky draw in this year’s UCL and must face two monsters of European soccer in the Group Stage (PSG and Real Madrid).
Their task looks even more monumental having lost Luiz Adriano to AC Milan and Douglas Costa to Bayern Munich in the summer. The pair were their two main offensive weapons and, without them, Skakhtar could hardly muster a scoring chance during their 4-0 setback to Real on Match Day 1.
Shakhtar will at least have homefield advantage for their next match, but PSG come into the game hot after cruising past Malmo 2-0 in their UCL opener and going 4-2-0 in their first six Ligue 1 matches (good enough for first place in the table).
Argentinian striker Edinson Cavani, who played solo upfront while Zlatan Ibrahimovic sat slightly behind, scored both PSG goals against Malmo.
If PSG want to challenge Real for top spot in the group, they will need to pick up the full three points from their contests with the weaker sides (Shakhtar and Malmo), including on the road. Knowing how important each point is in the relatively short group stage so, look for the French side and its myriad offensive weapons to overwhelm Shakhtar and get the win.
Pick: PSG (-125).
(Photo credit: Ben Sutherland (Flickr: DSC01263) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
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.
