A mouthwatering tie gets underway on Tuesday, with PSG taking on Real Madrid. Jake Osgathorpe previews the game, selecting his best bets.
Football betting tips: Champions League
1.5pts PSG to win at evens (General)
What a tie this has the potential to be.
The narratives are everywhere; Carlo Ancelotti and Sergio Ramos both facing former teams, Lionel Messi once again taking on the team he tortured for decades and Kylian Mbappe's current club facing his potential next club.
This is a star-studded glamour tie that fits the mould of both clubs.
The pair were far from convincing in the group stage of this competition, PSG finishing behind Manchester City and Real Madrid inching ahead of Inter Milan in a weak group.
For PSG, there was a feeling that they were still trying to figure things out under Mauricio Pochettino after the additions of star names in the summer, so there were bound to be teething issues - of which there have been plenty.
Les Parisiens' attacking capabilities have never really been questioned, it was just a case of striking a balance that gave them a sturdy enough platform for the flair players to win them matches.
The signs are there that they have found, or are at the very least close to finding, that happy medium.
In a quasi-Liverpool style, with functional central midfielders - who are expected to progress the ball and protect the spaces on the counter - wing-backs who are the key creators and a front three who roam and interchange, they may have found the formula for success.
The methods are yet to be fully tried out at this level though, but early indications domestically against last season's champions Lille and high-flying Rennes yielded positive results - allowing just 1.40 xGA across those two games.
This is a step up in class mind, but there remains the feeling that PSG's ceiling is very high, even if their floor is perhaps lower than Real Madrid's.
The Spaniards are arguably the more consistent of the two sides, as in you know more-or-less what you are going to get from them on a game-by-game basis, but when both PSG and Real Madrid are at their very best, the French side are superior.
For that reason, I'm happy to back PSG TO WIN at even money in this first leg.
Factor in that it is highly unlikely that Karim Benzema will be fully fit for this game, and the fact that Real Madrid played away in Villarreal (a fellow UCL last 16 team) on Saturday, whereas PSG were at home on Friday, and a home win looks the sensible selection.
It will be interesting to see how these last 16 ties go this season, as in what the pattern of the game will be like, given there is no away goals rule anymore.
Will we see away teams hold back a bit more knowing an away goal doesn't equal more than a home goal this term? Or will we just see the best sides progress over the 180 minutes because it becomes a ding-dong battle?
Time will tell, but in this first leg, a PSG win looks the play.
PSG v Real Madrid best bets and score prediction
- 1.5pts PSG to win at evens (General)
Score prediction: PSG 2-1 Real Madrid (Sky Bet odds: 7/1)
Odds correct at 1500 GMT (14/02/21)
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