2014 Champions League Quarter Finals Preview Pt 2
- By A.J. Ryder on March 21, 2014 14:44 GMT
In terms of qualifying for the next stage, Real Madrid are a 1/5 shot while Dortmund can be backed at 10/3. According to the bookies, this means that Borussia Dortmund are more likely to beat Real Madrid and progress than Manchester United are to get a result against Bayern Munich.
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With two English sides and two German sides still in the competition, it really does say something about the quality of football that remains to be played in those countries. With Arsenal getting underwhelming and unlucky at the usual time this year, and Manchester City not looking quite the finished product in Europe, its good to see that the nation’s coefficients won’t take a hit this year.
The absence of Italian teams in this stage of the competition speaks volumes about what’s going on there and you have to assume they will be hoping for much more interesting football in the 2014/15 iteration of the Champions League. It’s hard to believe we will be halfway through the decade around next year’s final.
The most closely-matched two-legged tie is the Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea one and you’ve got the French side, led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as the even money favourites in their first fixture while Chelsea are just a bit behind that with a 21/10 price being floated by bookmakers at the moment. The qualification betting is split right down the middle with both sides available at a 5/6 price tag and looking good value to get the job done going forward if they can play their type of football.
Progress in Europe is what Jose Mourinho is all about and you have to wonder whether PSG’s relative inexperience this deep into European competition will come back to bite them?
The final two-legged Champions League tie is the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid clash that sees the Catalan Club available at a 1/2 price ahead of Atletico’s lengthy 9/2 for the outright victory. Barcelona have found themselves to be beatable in Europe as of late but they are still a very slim 2/5 price to qualify to the next stage while Atletico are a 7/4 shot.
