The Worlds most illustrious club competition returns this midweek as the UEFA Champions League group stages bursts into life with a host of glamourous head-to-head ties. Won by Real Madrid for a record-extending 14th time last season, Los Blancos make the trip to Glasgow to take on Glasgow Celtic on match day one of this season’s competition.
Back on the big stage for the first time since 2018, the Hoops will be hoping to recreate European giant killings of the past at Parkhead where Celtic of course, hammered Old Firm rivals Rangers 4-0 at the weekend. The Spanish side will start the game as odds-on favourites (15/20) having made a perfect start to their new LA Liga campaign, winning four from four and scoring 11 goals. Karim Benzema was the star of last season’s competition with the French striker scoring a ridiculous 15 goals in 12 UCL matches. With Bar One Racing offering Double The Odds First Goalscorer on tonight’s game, Benzema is sure to be popular with punters at 5/2 to score first.
Elsewhere, Chelsea play in one of the two early kick-offs on Tuesday with the Londoners making the difficult trip to Croatia to take on Dinamo Zagreb. The hosts have lost just one of their last 11 games at home in the competition and with the Blues suffering a turbulent start to the new Premier League season, there could be an upset on the cards. Zagreb Double Chance pays out at 8/5.
In the night’s other early start, Borussia Dortmund welcomes Copenhagen to Signal Iduna Park with the Bundesliga side adapting to life without Eerling Haaland fairly well. The Bundesliga side sits second in the German top-flight after four wins from their opening five league games. Danish SuperLiga side, Copenhagen have lost four of their opening eight domestic matches so this looks like a good opportunity for Dortmund to start their Group G campaign with a win. A quick start will be important given Manchester City and Sevilla also feature in this group.
One of the stand-out ties of the entire group stages could well prove to be PSG v Juventus, as the French Champions bid to finally get their hands on the European Cup trophy, while Juventus have not tasted Champions League success since 1996. This is a Juventus side that appears to be going through a transitional period at the moment, with lots of incoming and outgoings in the recent transfer market. The Old Lady of Italian Football has drawn three times in five matches so far in Serie A, winning the other two in an unbeaten start. However, Juve will be coming up against a well-oiled PSG outfit, who have won five from six in Ligue 1 and are also unbeaten. With PSG scoring 24 goals already this season, neutrals will be hoping for a goal-fest in Paris, with over 2.5 goals priced at 1/2 and BTTS currently 9/10.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Eerling Haaland as Manchester City begin their quest to finally join the Champions League roll of honour, and City fans will fully believe their new Norweigian striker is the man that will make the difference this season. Already into double digits just a matter of weeks into the new campaign, Haaland could break all kinds of goalscoring records for City this season. With the incredible service Haaland receives in this Manchester City lineup, we’ve already seen him nod home from close range on a couple of occasions this season which makes the Bar One Racing Price Boost of Haaland to score a header anytime so appealing (9/1 from 6’s).
Tonight’s UCL Fixtures in full:
5.45 – Dinamo Zagreb v Man City
5.45 – B.Dortmund v Copenhagen
8.00 –
Benfica v Maccabi Haifa
Celtic v Real Madrid
PSG v Juventus
RB Leipzig v Shakhtar Donetsk
Salzburg v AC Milan
Sevilla v Man City