Champions League Last-Sixteen (Second Legs)

Tuesday, 16^th March

19:45 GMT – Bordeaux V Olympiakos (1-0)

19:45 GMT – Chelsea V Inter Milan (1-2)

Wednesday, 17^th March

19:45 GMT – Barcelona V VFB Stuttgart (1-1)

19:45 GMT – Sevilla V CSKA Moscow (1-1)

Barcelona to score 3 or more goals – 2.00 PaddyPower

Scoring three goals in a knock-out fixture in the Champions League would sound a daunting prospect for some but Barcelona are more than capable of doubling that figure when Stuttgart pay them a visit at the Nou Camp. The German’s haven’t really been conceding an alarming amount in their away games, neither in Bundesliga or Champions League action this season, but they travel to Spain needing to score so will have to abandon any conservative tactics in a bid to get the goal they desperately need. Barcelona, though, regardless of whether Stuttgart sit back or not, have the necessary inventory to unlock the German’s rearguard, with the architect Lionel Messi looking to tie the Stuttgart defence in knots, and Ibrahimovic, a fresh Swede, aiming to pounce on any scrapsthat may come his way.  

We feel a big performance is in the offing here as Barca generally put in a magnificent display along the way and this could be the fixture where once again the footballing world stand up and take notice of the Catalan giants.

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Bordeaux to WIN to NIL – 2.50 Bet365

I don’t like betting on this type of market as one goal spoils the party, but, however, this Bordeaux side are so strong in defence that a clean sheet looks a viable outcome. Moreover, they’re one of the most clinical teams I’ve watched for quite some time, defending stoutly before taking one of a select few chances at the other end. They did this in the first leg in Greece, defending for large parts of the game yet still grabbing a vital away goal. They are model professionals in how to win a game of football in a tidy manner and we fancy them pulling off another tidy display as they enter into the quarter-final draw. After all, they’ve won their last four Champions League games all to NIL.

Moreover, Laurent Blanc rested a few of his more influential players at the weekend, with one of their more high-profiled players, Marouane Chamakh, one of several to play a brief second half part in their 0-0 draw at Monaco. Blanc clearly had this game in mind.

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Chelsea V Inter Milan (Over 2.5 Goals) – 2.00 SkyBet (LOST!)

These sort of games tend to be tetchy, scrappy affairs with clear cut chances few and far between. However, that shouldn’t be the case on Tuesday night as Chelsea will attack a vulnerable Inter defence from the word ‘Go’ in a bid to level the aggregate scoring. Chelsea are one of football’s powerhouse teams and they have the players to roll Inter over by scoring a good few at Stamford Bridge. However, by the same token this Inter side have plenty of goals in them as well, despite a poor recent showing in Serie A. They were far more adventurous in an attacking sense in the first leg at the San Siro, striding forward in numbers whenever possible, and while Inter could decide to rest on their laurels by attempting to defending their one goal aggregate lead, we don’t think their defence is strong enough to keep Chelsea at bay for too long, so Mourinho’s men will need to come out of their shell at some point, which should be sooner rather than later. If so, we should have an open game of football.

Two of Chelsea’s three home encounters in the Group stage of the tournament finished with four goals in each.

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Sevilla V CSKA Moscow (Over 3.5 Goals) – 3.75 Boylesports (LOST!)

We could of played safe and plumped for 3 goals or more but felt this fixture in particular had the makings of a thriller, providing both teams read their respective scripts. What we have here is two sides whom, when presented with an attack minded opponent, like to play counter-attacking football, with the pair both brilliantly at it. CSKA won’t do much from an attacking sense but Sevilla will. The Spanish side will commit men forward in order to kill this tie off and that could be precarious as CSKA counter at an alarming rate, and in numbers. The Russian’s waste no time getting forward and within the blink of an eye there are more CSKA players in Sevilla’s half than that of the Spanish side.

Moreover, the game has a little more spice to it in that CSKA have to score else they go out. Alvaro Negredo’s strike back in Moscow means should this end in a stalemate, Sevilla would go through. The Russian’s need a goal but could find themselves further behind if Sevilla storm out of the blocks like we expect, which, should this be the case, could lead to an entertaining to-and-throe game of football.

Sevilla counter-attacked in a ruthless fasion at Rangers, scoring four at Ibrox, while CSKA scored three at Old Trafford against Manchester United whilst using a counter-attacking style of play during their Group encounters.