Soccer Betting – Pep Returns to Bayern with Man City

Bayern Munich (-130) vs Manchester City (+293), Draw (+241)

Ex-Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola is getting his return to Allianz Arena out of the way early, taking his new team, Manchester City, to Germany for a super-powered friendly on Wednesday (2:30 PM Eastern).

With Bayern, Guardiola won three Bundesliga titles in three seasons, but he was ousted in the Champions League semifinals all three years. He developed Bayern’s attack into a smart, quick, and calculating force, and has set the team up for prolonged success; that said, the three straight UCL losses to Spanish sides left fans wanting more.

Manchester City jumped at the chance to sign the manager this summer, and they’ll be hoping he can return the high-priced club to the top of the Premier League. The Citizens finished a disappointing fourth in the table last year, behind Leicester City, Arsenal, and Tottenham.

An EPL title is only part of his mission, of course. Once again, Guardiola will be expected to lead his team to Champions League glory. Man City are coming off their first ever semifinal appearance and management wants that to become a yearly occurrence.

Guardiola is apt to change everything you know about Man City, including their playing style, and we’ll get our first look at his plans on Wednesday.

We’ll also get our first look at Bayern under new coach Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian was brought in largely because of his past success in the UCL. Ancelotti has three titles on his resume already (the most by any manager), two with AC Milan and one with Real Madrid. It’s a Champions League title or bust in Munich.

There are reasons to like Bayern in this one, apart from the fact that they’re playing at home. First and foremost, Man City will be more concerned with learning Guardiola’s systems than the final result. That means value on the home side.

Pick: Bayern Munich (-130).

(Photo Credit: Thomas Rodenbücher (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/])