It’s a very busy week for sport this week across Europe and the United States. It is Masters Golf week (which we will bring you details of in our second article of the week), we also have the Premier League Darts starting today (Monday), the Grand National at the weekend and from Tuesday to Thursday it is the first leg of the quarterfinals in the Champions League and Europe League.
Five teams from the Premier League are in action across all three nights of action with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea taking part in the Champions League, while Arsenal and Manchester United fly the flag for the UK in the Europa League.
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Let’s now take a look at the games coming up this week across both competitions together with our tips for each one. All odds shown were correct at the time of writing and were courtesy of bet365 Sport.
Champions League Quarterfinals 1st Leg
Kick off times are all 8pm GMT for both competitions.
Tuesday 6th April
- Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund
Both these teams have a decent record in the Champions League up until the quarterfinal stage and both will be hoping to go one better than that this season. For me, Manchester City are the obvious pick here, despite Dortmund’s much vaunted attack. I can see the Germans scoring an away goal but I think City have so much quality and firepower and that Dortmund back line does look somewhat dodgy. As such, I think City will take a comfortable lead into the second leg in Germany. Prediction – Manchester City 3-1 Borussia Dortmund (10/1)
A repeat of the 2018 Champions League Final, which Real won 3-1, ostensibly down to two horrendous goalkeeping mistakes from Loris Karius. Real have won the last three games between the teams but before that Liverpool handed the Spaniards a 5-0 two-leg drubbing, their heaviest ever 2-leg loss in the Champions League. Real are going well in Spain at the moment and they are always tough to beat but I think Liverpool are in great shape away from home after that win at Arsenal and I can see them surprising a few here. Prediction – Real Madrid 1-2 Liverpool (9/1).
Wednesday 7th April
- Bayern Munich v Paris St Germain
This quarterfinal is also a repeat of a recent final, last year’s Champions League final which Bayern won 1-0. In truth, I can actually see a similar kind of result happening in this game. The German side have been hit massively by the absence of Robert Lewandowski through injury and while they are still formidable, his absence is a huge one. Paris will be out for revenge for that defeat last year but I think they may need to wait for the second leg to gain some. Prediction – Bayern Munich 2-1 Paris St Germain (8/1).
FC Porto surprised more than a few watchers in the last round when they defeated Juventus to reach the quarterfinals. Chelsea also did well overcoming La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid to earn a chance against Porto. The Londoners were heavily beaten at the weekend by West Brom, 5-2, but Thiago Silva was sent off in the first half of that game. I don’t think that will adversely affect Chelsea here and I am backing them to land a win. Prediction – FC Porto 0-1 Chelsea (5/1).
Europa League Quarterfinals 1st Leg
Thursday 8th April
Having won all of their last six games in all competitions, Ajax come into this game in great spirits and good form. AS Roma’s form is far more erratic, but the Italian side have been more consistent in this competition this season. Both teams have plenty of experience in European competition, both were Champions League semifinalists in the not too distant past. That said, both teams have also changed markedly since then, especially Ajax. This will be a close one and there won’t be a lot in it, but I am taking Ajax to take a narrow lead into the 2nd leg in Italy. Prediction – Ajax 2-1 AS Roma (8/1)
Slavia Prague have already knocked out two British teams from this competition, defeating Leicester City and Rangers by drawing at home and then winning the away leg 2-0. Arsenal won in Greece before losing at home to Olympiakos and the Gunners were awful when losing 3-0 to Liverpool at the weekend. They’ll need to be so much better here against a side that have been tough to beat for a couple of years now. Given how they performed at the weekend, I think a draw is the best they can hope for. Prediction – Arsenal 1-1 Slavia Prague (7/1)
- Dinamo Zagreb v Villarreal
Zagreb produced the performance of the round last time out when they came back from a 2-0 first leg deficit to Spurs to beat them 3-0 after extra time in the second leg at home, Orsic the hero in that game scoring a superb hattrick. Villarreal though have been excellent in this competition, winning 7 of their eight games so far, drawing the other and they have only lost five games in La Liga all season long too. This should be a very entertaining game and one I feel will end all-square. Prediction – Dinamo Zagreb 2-2 Villarreal – 14/1.
- Granada v Manchester United
Granada come into this game on the back of three straight defeats and there is no doubt that they are not in the best shape ahead of this tie against a Manchester United side who have been excellent away from home this season. The Red Devils have already landed one big win in Spain in this competition, beating Real Sociedad 4-0 in the first leg in Spain in the Round of 32 and I don’t think that they will be too far off this in this game either. Prediction – Granada 0-3 Manchester United – 11/1.