UCL week 5/6: the talking points
Tuesday and Wednesday night will see some teams make giant strides towards the Champions League knockout phase and others face early exits.
Inter to crash out
One team that has been surprisingly terrible in Europe is Inter, who showed us such promise in last season’s Serie A chase. They might be second in the domestic standings, but their European form has been poor. They are yet to register a win and lie bottom of Group B with two points. Five points separate them and second-placed Real Madrid and with six points still to play for, Group B is set to go down to the wire.
Borussia Monchengladbach are the surprising leaders and Inter are in Germany for tomorrow’s crucial tie. A win would boost Inter, while a draw will edge the Germans closer to the knockouts. In the first round encounter Romelu Lukaku salvaged a home draw for the Nerazzuri and they’ll rely on his brilliance one more on Tuesday night. Inter need two wins and must hope rivals drop points as they try to crawl out of a tight spot.
Given just how poor Inter have been, we’re going for a draw here, bringing the curtains down on Inter’s Champions League run this season.
A draw is priced at 11/4 or 3.75
Liverpool’s Group D is wide open
Liverpool’s group is wide open and sadly for them so is the door to their physio room. The injury pile up has been well documented and we can now see some cracks showing. We’d add “at last” to that sentence given their great run of results prior to the last two games. Atalanta gave them a warning shot in their previous Champions League game, while a draw to Brighton at the weekend showed the world that Liverpool are vulnerable.
Ajax have been incredible in the Eredivisie this season and their Champions League campaign has been solid too. Goals are flying in from everywhere and they have scored 42 goals in 10 league games this season. You do the maths, that’s incredible! This side can hurt Liverpool and now is the best time for it. You have to strike the best teams at their weakest point and this can be Liverpool’s.
With three teams still in contention 3 points now are huge and it looks like we’re being set up for a grand slam final group stage no matter what!
Get Ajax to beat Liverpool with odds of 19/5 or 4.8
City’s European Cruise continues
Manchester City smashed five past Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday and we expect another big victory against Porto on Tuesday. Their European form has been frighteningly good and we expect them to finish the group stage undefeated. A 100% group stage record would be brilliant and we don’t think Marseille will trouble them on the final day either.
Get City to win the Champions League at 9/2 or 5.5
Cavani to haunt former club
Lukaku’s influence at Inter has been clear but it’s his replacement at Manchester United that stole the headlines on the weekend. Edinson Cavani was brought on as United trailed 2-0 at Southampton and he turned the match on a sixpence. He assisted Bruno Fernandes to get United back into the game, then scored two diving headers to complete the superb comeback. He’s the perfect number 9 and we’re backing him to be on the scoresheet against PSG on Wednesday night.
A win for Manchester United would secure progress to the knockout stages while a draw or defeat would leave the group wide open with the final day showdown against Leipzig becoming vital. Naturally, it does depend on which United show up as haven’t looked comfortable when playing at home this season.
It’s worth pointing out Cavani’s record at PSG: He scored 200 goals in 301 games, making him their all time top scorer. He was shown the back door and missed their Champions League final defeat to Bayern last season and we back him to exact revenge for his treatment at the tail end of his stay in Paris.
Get Cavani to score two goals at 23/2 or 12.5
More Casumo Sports Page
Premier League | La Liga | Serie A | Championship | Champions League | Tennis | Boxing
