Day 2 of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League group stage gets underway this week and there’s some great games set to play out. As we always do, we’ve provided previews and betting tips for the best value games of the week. Check them out below!
2018-19 Champions League Day 2 Betting Tips
Hoffenheim vs Manchester City (Wednesday 2:55am AEST)
The first of our matchday 2 tips comes from the Group F match between Germany’s Hoffenheim and England’s Manchester City. Although this one shapes as a big match for both sides, it’s especially big for Manchester City, considering they dropped their opening Champions League fixture at home to Lyon. The short priced Group F favourites simply cannot allow themselves to fall further behind the pace with another loss in the second day of action.
City’s English Premier League form can’t be questioned. After winning the league last season with an amazing 32 wins from 38 games, they now find themselves on top of the table again with 6 wins and a draw through 7 fixtures. On top of that, their squad depth is almost unrivalled in world football, which means they should have 11 players of extreme quality take the field on Wednesday morning (AEST).
All in all, if Manchester City come to play there will be nothing that Hoffenheim can do to prevent them from cruising to victory. We’re more than happy to back them in to win by 2+ goals at a coin toss.
Manchester City handicap (-1)
$1.89
Lyon vs Shakhtar Donetsk (Wednesday 5am AEST)
Our second Champions League matchday 2 tip comes from the less talked about but still highly important Lyon vs Shakhtar Donetsk Group F match. As mentioned above, Lyon recorded the biggest upset of matchday 1 when they defeated Manchester City at the fortress that is Etihad Stadium. Meanwhile, Ukrainian league giants Shakhtar Donetsk are coming off a 2-2 draw at home to Hoffenheim.
We’re not quite sure why Lyon come into this match at a near coin toss to win. They have by far the superior squad, they play in the better league and are in decent touch, sitting in 5th place in French Ligue 1. Lyon have hosted Shakhtar Donetsk at Groupama Stadium on just 1 occasion, coming in 2014, where they blew them off the park in a 4-1 demolition.
It may not be a 3-goal drubbing like we saw back in 2014, but we’re more than happy to back Lyon in to claim all 3 points again on Wednesday morning (AEST).
Tottenham vs Barcelona (Thursday 5am AEST)
Our final tip for matchday 2 of the Champions League comes from the blockbuster fixture between Tottenham and Barcelona. This match should be an absolute cracker and may go a long way to deciding the final standings in what is a very difficult Group B.
Tottenham’s 2018-19 UCL campaign got off to an extremely disappointing start when they conceded two goals in the last 5 minutes of play against Inter Milan to eventually fall by 2 goals to 1. However, if we learned anything from their 2017-18 campaign, it’s that they’re not afraid of the big stage and will aiming to collect all 3 points when they host Spanish giants, Barcelona.
On the other hand, Barcelona have failed to capitalise on the slipups of Real and Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga, claiming 4 wins from their 7 fixtures. It seems the time is now for English sides to assert some dominance on the world stage, and in what is potentially the match of the day/round, we can see the Spurs putting in a gallant effort and earning themselves at least 1 point in front of their home fans.
Tottenham double chance
$1.80
