AC Milan v Barcelona Live Odds : Home win looks the value in Champions League tie
Its AC Milan v Barcelona in the Champions League as Paddy Power release up to date odds and a new free bet offer, as the firm report that plenty of support has come in for Bayern after last nights performance.
and Two giants of European football lock horns in Italy on Wednesday evening as AC Milan entertain Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 first leg.
These two have a lot of history in this competition, with Milan winning it seven times and Barcelona lifting the trophy on four occasions, so it should be a cracking tie.
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However, you would say that Barca are the stronger team at the moment and if they are at their best in this one, it could be a very good night for the Catalan giants.
Milan do come into this encounter in a decent bit of form though as they have won four of their last five and are finally showing a bit of consistency in Serie A.
They picked up wins when they needed to in the group stage of the Champions League, but would have been disappointed not to have topped the group. If they had of finished in first position, Milan would have avoided taking on Barcelona.
Massimiliano Allegri knows just how important this first leg is and how tough it is going to be to get a positive result at the Nou Camp, so has to send his men out to win this one.
The Italian giants are likely to remain defensively savvy though and then try to hit Barcelona on the counter-attack, much like Juventus did against Celtic last week. This is a much tougher test for Milan of course, but Serie A sides have been successful against Barcelona over the years.
Mario Balotelli is of course cup-tied for this encounter, so the pressure to come up with something special in front of goal is on Stephan El Shaarawy, who has 18 goals in all competitions this campaign. He is available at 10/1 to break the deadlock.
As for Barcelona, they are sure to come to Milan and play their natural game – which is to attack.
The La Liga-leaders are too good for any team in the world when at their best and they would see failure to win this Champions League as a massive disappointment.
Many eyes will be on one man on Wednesday evening – Lionel Messi – as the Argentinean is considered the best player on the planet right now. Messi has a stunning 48 goals to his name this campaign and knows that matches such as this one are where he has to put in a big performance.
He can be backed at 9/4 to score first, which might be good value.
Vilanova’s side have a lot of quality all over the pitch of course and both Andres Inestia and Xavi could be key men in the middle of the park.
Barcelona are dominating La Liga, but didn’t play at their best during the group stages and lost at Celtic Park of course, so they are far from invincible.
They are still considered the big favourites for this encounter though at 4/7.
It is all set to be a thrilling 90 minutes of action between two of the most famous teams in the world. The action gets underway from 7.45PM.
