Champions League Betting – AS Monaco at Juventus

AS Monaco (+240) at Juventus (+137) (Draw +225)

Italian power Juventus will look to make their first UEFA Champions League semifinal since 2003 today when they visit Ligue 1 side AS Monaco at the Stade Louis II (1:45 PM Eastern).

Juve lead the two-game, aggregate-goal series 1-0 after winning at home last week by the same score. In order to advance, Monaco will need to win by two. A 1-0 Monaco lead through 90 minutes would send the game to extra time.

Juventus has been the class of Serie A all season, currently sitting 15 points up on second-place Lazio. They have also won five of their last six Champions League games, keeping a clean sheet in four.

Despite only needing a draw, Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri assured fans that his team isn’t going to sit back and defend.

“I don’t know for certain what Monaco’s tactics will be, but we will try to score as we know what they’re about. Monaco are a team that defend well and are physically very strong, so it will be a difficult game, just like the first leg”, said the manager.

Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim, meanwhile, knows it will take a heroic effort from his squad in order to oust the Italians from the tournament.

“We need to have the perfect match, with good defensive organization and a clinical edge in attack,” said Jardim.

Monaco have been decent in recent UCL matches, as well, posting three clean sheets in their last four. However, they did surrender two away goals to Arsenal in the Round of 16.

Juventus have visited AS Monaco just once before, back in 1998; the home team won 3-2, but the Italians ended up advancing 6-4 on aggregate in a high-scoring series.

Despite Allegri’s proposal to attack, consider the draw (+225) for this contest.

(Photo credit: Ver en vivo En Directo (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)