As I said last week, we are incredibly likely to have two English teams in the Champions League Semifinals, and two English clubs are heavily favored to become the final semifinalists on Wednesday. An English team had to advance when Manchester City met Tottenham Hotspur, but the team that was favored to advance has a deficit to make up after losing the first leg. In Wednesday’s other game, Liverpool is a heavy favorite to advance after beating Porto 2-0 in the first leg of their tie.
Champions League Quarterfinals Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Manchester City -331
Tottenham Hotspur +771
Draw +458
Over/Under 3 and 3.5
Tottenham may have won the battle but lost the war. Spurs were elated after beating Manchester City 1-0 after a spot of brilliance from Son Heung-min led to the game’s only goal on Tuesday. However, the victory came at a huge cost, as superstar Harry Kane seems likely to be lost for the season.
Kane came in for a challenge on Fabian Delph in the second half of the match, and Delph stepped on Kane’s ankle. Spurs captain went down immediately, and while no official word has been given, it looks like an ankle injury will keep him out for the rest of the season.
That wasn’t the only loss for the side of Spurs as Dele Alli suffered a broken hand and is questionable for the return leg. That will leave Tottenham increasingly reliant on Christian Eriksen, Son, and Lucas Moura if they are to advance over City.
The Citizens must be feeling a bit of déjà vu coming into this game. They met Liverpool in the Quarterfinals last year and were stunned by the Reds despite being favored to advance. City have work to do here, but if they can even match half their performance against Schalke in the Round of 16, they will be just fine. They hammered Schalke 7-0 at home with six different players scoring.
There are so many attacking options for City that they can come at you in waves. Sergio Aguero is currently leading the Premier League in scoring, but Raheem Sterling isn’t too far behind, and Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne are fantastic finishers too. With Kane out, it’s hard to go against City, but Spurs have a punchers chance.
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Tottenham Hotspur 1
FC Porto +269
Liverpool FC +103
Draw +238
Over/Under 2.5
At least Porto have a chance at overcoming their first leg deficit this year. When these teams met in the Champions League last year, Liverpool blasted Porto 5-0 in Portugal in the first leg, and that ended the tie then and there. Porto certainly aren’t pleased after losing 2-0 in Anfield in the first leg on Tuesday, but it isn’t an abject disaster.
Liverpool had little trouble with Porto last week. The Reds jumped on them early with a Naby Keita goal in the fifth minute, and that was followed up by a Roberto Firmino goal midway through the first half. They just held on from there to avoid giving up an away goal and put themselves in an advantageous spot headed into the second leg.
Porto was widely viewed as the weakest side coming into the Champions League Quarterfinals, and they just don’t have the talent of other teams. Tiquinho wasn’t able to have much success against Liverpool in the first leg, and it’s hard to see them getting the goals they will need. I don’t think Porto will be able to shut Liverpool out, so that would mean Porto must score at least four goals to advance. I don’t see that happening, and I think Liverpool get the win.
Prediction: Liverpool 2, Porto 1
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