Champions League Betting – Basel vs. Porto

Basel (+225) vs. Porto (+125) (Draw +225)

Tomorrow, an upstart Basel team will host Porto looking to pick up the full three points and boost its chances of qualifying for its ever Champions League Quarterfinals. The kick-off will be at 2:45 p.m. Eastern at St. Jacob Park.

Despite playing at home, Basel are a slight underdog heading into tomorrow’s game. The Swiss team is at +225, while the Portuguese side is at +125. The draw is at a low +225, as well.   The handicap is currently pick’em, and the over/under is at 2.5 goals.

Porto was undefeated in group play, going 4-2-0 and outscoring their opponents 16-4. Basel, meanwhile, went 2-1-3 in a group with defending champion Real Madrid and an underperforming Liverpool, good enough for second place. They managed an away draw with the Reds in the last game of the round robin to secure their place in the Round of 16.

These will be the first ever battle between these two sides so there aren’t any head-to-head trends to go on. However, Porto have had success against teams from Switzerland, going 3-2-1 in six tries.

On the other side, Basel have faced Portuguese squads ten times, only taking 9 of 30 possible points (2-3-5). And three of those five defeats came at home.

Making matters worse for Basel, Porto have been on fire lately. Since their last Champions League game, Porto have played 13 games in all competitions going 10-1-2 overall. Basel won five of their seven friendlies during a winter break in which they spent time in Marbella, Spain.

Porto are the stronger side, but Basel will be highly motivated to pick up at least a point. Taking Basel at +225 looks like the best value on the board.

(Photo credit: DSanchez17 (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)