Football betting tips: Champions League
1pt Bayer Leverkusen 8+ corners at 15/8 (Sky Bet, Betfair, Paddy Power)
0.5pts Bayer Leverkusen 10+ corners at 6/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power)
Bayern Munich have a considerable advantage at the halfway stage. They are three goals to the good but will be wary as they have already lost by a three-goal margin away from home twice in the Champions League this season (1-4 v Barcelona in October and 0-3 v Feyenoord in January).
Hope for Bayer Leverkusen to cling too perhaps. Their price of 18/1 to qualify underpins the size of the task at hand though, especially with Xabi Alonso’s recent misjudgements.
Leverkusen’s manager made the questionable decision to drop keeper and captain Lukas Hradecky in the first leg and it proved costly as his replacement Matej Kovar dropped a cross allowing Jamal Musiala to double Bayern’s lead.
B04's task on Tuesday was made even harder at the weekend when Florian Wirtz hobbled off against Werder Bremen.
Wirtz has created 25 chances in this competition and had a hand in 26 goals domestically and in Europe this term. No doubt his side will struggle without their creator-in-chief in midweek, it could even upset the balance of their whole attack.
Vincent Kompany chose to heavily rotate his team at the weekend as they hosted basement boys Bochum in the Bundesliga, and despite being two goals up at one stage, Joao Palhinha’s red card swung the momentum the way of the visitors and Bochum won 3-2.
In the grand scheme of the Bundesliga title race, that result won't matter much, and now Bayern head into this second leg with an almost fully-fit squad to choose from.
What are the best bets?
BAYER LEVERKUSEN have averaged 6.88 CORNERS domestically this term and 4.45 in the Champions League, the latter jumping to six in home games.
Examining their recent results, Alonso’s side have had eight or more against Mainz, Cologne, Wolfsburg and at the weekend against Werder Bremen.
They were chasing a result in all of those games, like they are against Bayern on Tuesday.
Leverkusen had six to Bayern’s zero when the sides last met at the BayArena and with a three goal deficit to try and overcome, both the 15/8 about 8+ BAYER LEVERKUSEN CORNERS and 6/1 for 10+ BAYER LEVERKUSEN CORNERS appeal.
Team news
Leverkusen are expected to be without Wirtz until the beginning of April which should see Amine Adli and Nathan Tella start behind Victor Boniface in attack.
Jeanuel Belocian is ruled out with injury, Nordi Mukiele is suspended and Robert Andrich is a doubt with illness and should the latter miss Tuesday’s game, Exequiel Palacios will slot alongside Granit Xhaka in midfield.
After a mistake in the first leg, Hradecky should be preferred to Kovar in goal.
As for the visitors, Jonas Urbig is expected to start in goal with Manuel Neuer unavailable in potentially the only change from the first leg.
Harry Kane will lead the line with a support cast of Michael Olise, Musiala and Kingsley Coman.
Predicted line-ups
Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky; Mukiele, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo; Tella, Aldi; Boniface
Bayern Munich: Urbig; Laimer, Upamecano, Kim, Guerreiro; Goretzka, Kimmich; Olise, Musiala, Coman; Kane
Match facts
- Following their 3-0 victory in the first leg, Bayern Munich could register multiple wins over Bayer Leverkusen in the same campaign for the first time since 2020-21 (two under Hansi Flick, both in the Bundesliga).
- Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten in their three home games against Bayern Munich under Xabi Alonso, winning two of them (D1). Prior to Alonso’s arrival, they only won one of their previous eight home matches against Bayern (D2 L5), between 2015-16 and 2021-22.
- Bayern Munich are looking to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the 35 th time, with only Real Madrid having done so on more occasions (39, prior to their second leg against Atlético).
- Bayer Leverkusen will be aiming to become just the fifth side in UEFA Champions League history to lose the first leg of a knockout stage tie by 3+ goals and still progress, after Deportivo de La Coruña in 2003-04 (v Milan, quarter-finals), Barcelona in 2016-17 (v Paris SG, last 16), Roma in 2017-18 (v Barcelona, quarter-finals) and Liverpool in 2018-19 (v Barcelona, semi-finals).
- Bayern Munich – who lead by three goals in this tie – have already lost two away games in the UEFA Champions League this season by a three-goal margin (1-4 v Barcelona in October and 0-3 v Feyenoord in January). Indeed, this is already the only European Cup/Champions League campaign in which they’ve ever suffered more than one defeat by 3+ goals (2).
- Across his 33 matches as a manager in European competition, Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is yet to suffer back-to-back defeats. Meanwhile, Leverkusen haven’t lost any of their last 13 European games on home soil (W10 D3), winning nine of the last 10 (D1).
- Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane has netted nine goals in 10 UEFA Champions League appearances this season, already his most in a single edition. If he finds the net in this match, he’ll become the first ever English player to score 10 goals in a European Cup/Champions League campaign.
- Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz has created 25 chances from open play in the UEFA Champions League this season. Only one player on record (since 2003-04) has created more in a single campaign while aged 21 or younger: Vinícius Júnior in 2021-22 (31).
- Michael Olise has been directly involved in seven goals in 11 games in the UEFA Champions League this season (five goals, two assists). The only player aged 23 or younger to be involved in more in a single campaign for Bayern Munich is Thomas Müller (10 – eight goals, two assists in 2012-13).
- The two players with the most chances created while under high-intensity pressure in the UEFA Champions League this season are involved in this tie, in the form of Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz (19 each).
Odds correct at 1330 GMT (10/03/25)
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