With the knockout rounds of both the Champions League and Europa League in full flow, away goals become vital in ties leading to open games when the goals go in. We have picked out three ties where we believe both sides will find the net as well as predicting a winner.
Manchester United v Bayern Munich – 7.45pm Tuesday
Bayern Munich to win and BTTS is 19/10 with BetVictor
Everyone expects United to lose and so do I. I can see United scoring though as they see this first leg being their best chance of gaining qualification. In the previous round the Reds showed they have character by turning around the 2-0 deficit Olympiacos had over them by winning the tie at Old Trafford 3-0.
That should give David Moyes side the belief needed to get forward and take the game to the reigning champions. If they can have just 1% of the belief the United side from the 1999 Champions League final showed, when Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored stoppage time goals- then the Red Devils should be able to find the net.
Bayern Munich are tournament favourites for a reason, having demolished everyone in their way both domestically and in the Champions League so far. The last round saw another English side being shown the exit by Guardiola’s side when Arsenal lost 3-1 on aggregate. In the league they are 28 games deep and have yet to suffer a single loss and have won ten away games in a row.
It would come as no surprise to anyone in Bayern turn it on as they have done so often and win the game by three or fours goals. Either way it should a cracking one to watch as it always is with the German Champions involved.
Paris Saint Germain v Chelsea – 7.45pm Wednesday
Paris Saint Germain to win and BTTS is 4/1 with BetVictor
Paris Saint Germain really are becoming giants of the Champions League as they continue to reach the latter echelons of Europe’s Premier competition. This is the second season in a row they have reached the Quarter Final stage and it looks like the Qatar backed club are here to stay.
Zlatan Ibrahimović is always going to be the centre of attention on the pitch and the Swedish superstar will be desperate to remind his old boss, Mourinho what he is capable of and increase his tally of ten goals in the Champions League during this campaign. Bayer Leverkusen were destroyed 4-0 in Germany by PSG in the last round and this side have the quality to get through to the Semi Finals.
At home the Laurent Blanc’s side have also beaten Benfica, 3-0 and Olympiacos, 2-1 in the group stages and I am predicting a famous victory on Wednesday night.
Jose Mourinho will be happy if he can seal this tie at Stamford Bridge if they can get away with a draw in France but I believe PSG are ready to pull out a shock which will have Jose on the attack for an away goal.
In usual Chelsea arrogance they will be confident of a victory and will remember when the last time the pair met in 2004 during the Group Stages with the London side leaving the Parc des Princes with a 3-0 win.
A huge amount has changed since then and I cannot see any sort of result like that occuring this Wednesday. In the last round they comfortable despatched Galatasaray who to be quite honest, were dreadful over the two legs and Chelsea havent faced a side in Europe of PSG’s quality, all season. I do see Chelsea scoring though with quality in Eden Hazard, Andre Schurlle and Oscar to provide the danger in attack.
AZ Alkmaar v Benfica – 8.05pm Thursday
Benfica to win and BTTS is 11/4 with BetVictor
AZ face the massive task of achieving a Europa Semi Final slot when they take on Benfica on Thursday night.
The first leg being in the Netherlands mean AZ will have to get a positive result to stand a chance when they head to Portugal. In the Eredivisie, the Dutch side have scored in every home game this season and will know that they need to do so again here against Benfica or their task will become even bigger, come 10pm.
We should see plenty of goals on Thursday evening in this one but Benfica are likely to come out on top and are probably my favourites for the Cup this season.
After witnessing the demolition at White Hart Lane over Tottenham Hotspur, it is an easy to see why Benfica are favourites here. The Portuguese Giants always take this competition seriously
and seem to be there or thereabouts in the latter rounds. Confidence surely couldn’t be higher, in the Primeira Liga, SLB are top by seven points and have won eight games in a row having remained unbeaten for 24 games! Incredible. Jorge Jesus’ outfit should have far too much for AZ and I can see this one ending 3-1 to the away side.