After a wild opening round of fixtures, the Sports Gambling Podcast Network has you covered with our Champions League Matchday 2 best bets for this week’s games.
Tuesday’s slate is headlined by Real Madrid’s trip to Napoli. Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Arsenal are also playing on the same day.
Meanwhile, the “Group of Death” will hold most of the headlines on Wednesday, which includes Newcastle hosting Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona is in Portugal to play FC Porto, and Manchester City heads to Germany to play RB Leipzig.
There were plenty of goals and drama in Matchday 1. So, let’s dive into the action for our favorite plays this next round of matches in the UCL.
Champions League Matchday 2 Best Bets
Napoli vs Real Madrid – Over 2.5 Goals (-142) FanDuel
Whenever you get sides from Italy and Spain together, I typically like to look towards an under. However, Napoli is not your typical Italian club.
If you look at this season’s results, this same bet would have cashed in six of eight matches in all competitions for manager Rudi Garci’s team. This includes the 2-1 victory over Braga in Matchday 1.
This was also a profitable bet in Napoli fixtures in this same competition last season. In fact, there were at least three goals in four of five home matches a season ago in the Champions League.
As for the Spanish Giants, Vinicius Junior is back from injury to bolster the attack, but they are missing key pieces in defense. Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba, and Éder Militão are all out for Madrid, which should allow Napoli to create quality chances.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti’s side played some open games on the road this season as well, particularly against the better sides. The Madrid derby finished with four goals at the Civitas Metropolitan Stadium, and Ancelotti’s team scored three at Girona over the weekend.
Neither team really wants to sit back and defend, which should give us a pretty open game with goals.
PSV Eindhoven vs Sevilla – PSV ML (+100) FanDuel
In the Europa League last season, these two sides met in the knockout rounds, with Sevilla winning over two legs on the way to lifting the trophy at the end of the tournament.
Both sides won their home game, but PSV ended with a better xGDiff at +1.1, according to fbref.com. In fact, Sevilla was held to just 0.7 expected goals and one big scoring chance in the Netherlands.
I also don’t feel the odds truly reflect how those matches went and the forms of the teams this season. Coming into this game, the Spanish side is allowing averages of 1.867 xG and three big chances per match on the road.
Meanwhile, PSV won both UCL qualifying fixtures at the Philips Stadion by outscoring opponents by seven goals.
Another key factor for this bet is that Sevilla’s best striker, Youssef En-Nesyri, is out with an injury.
I really want to jump at the chance to fade this weak team at these odds to close out our Champions League Matchday 2 best bets article.
