Champions League Betting – Juventus vs. AS Monaco

Juventus (-225) vs. AS Monaco (+700 2.5 o/u)

Juventus and AS Monaco are set to do battle in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Juve will host the first leg of the two-game, aggregate goals series on Tuesday April 14 at Juventus Stadium (2:45 p.m. Eastern), sitting as heavy -225 favorites at the moment.

Massimiliano Allegri and his Juventus squad are fresh off a tremendous comeback in the semifinals of the Italian Cup against Fiorentina. They dropped the first leg at home (2-1), but responded with  a 3-0 away win in the second leg to take the series 4-2 on aggregate.

“We’ve had three years where we’ve won the League every year and the question is always whether or not Juventus will still be hungry”, midfielder Claudio Marchisio said after the comeback. “The players are still willing to sacrifice and to give everything out on the pitch and we’re showing that this year.”

Juve reached the quarters of the UCL by crushing Borussia Dortmund 5-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16. Carlos Tevez scored three goals over the two games, while Alvaro Morata notched the other two (including the decisive second goal in Juve’s 2-1 win away in the first leg).

Monaco, who are massive +700 underdogs to get the win on Tuesday, were arguably the team that everyone wanted to draw in the quarterfinals. The team topped Arsenal in the Round of 16, but in less than convincing fashion. After a brilliant 3-1 win away, Monaco barely survived on the strength of away goals after dropping the second leg 2-0 at home.

Monaco have Juventus have only met twice previously in the Champions League and both came back in the 1997-98 season; Juventus lost 3-2 in France but then crushed Monaco 4-1 in Turin.

Both Juventus and Monaco have shown inconsistent form at home in recent times. That makes the Monaco moneyline (+700) worth a look.

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