BARCELONA VS INTER MILAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PREVIEW

Group F in this year’s Champions League is really starting to border on the farcical, despite it being one of the toughest groups in the competition (barring Group C). Arguably the biggest match of the group takes place tomorrow as a Lionel Messi-less Barca tackle Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side. We’ll be seeing Sam Eto’o facing off against his old teammates yet again and I’m confident that we’ll see plenty of fireworks.
If you’re backing Milan, you’re in for some great prices at Betfair. For the outright victory, this talented Inter side are listed at a hefty 5.3. The draw pays 3.65 while Barcelona trades at a very short 1.83. Barca are the home side and the rightful favourites, but they have not produced platinum play in the Champions League so far and mistakes could cost the Catalan side.
In terms of the correct score betting, the favoured result appears to be a 1-1 draw at 7.8. It’s facing some stiff competition from 1-0 to Barcelona at 8.8 while a 2-1 or 2-0 margin in Barca’s favour pays out at a 10.0 price. 2-1 to Inter would garner a nice 21.0 payout while a very plausible 2-2 draw is listed at 20.0. Any unquoted price (a team to score 4 or more) is listed at 9.6. I think this one will be tighter than many think and backing each team to win 1-0 may not be a bad bet at 8.8 and 14.5.
I think the first goal is going to have a major impact on this match with Barca listed at 1.57 to get on the scoresheet first. Inter pay out at 2.34 and I think that’s a really enticing price. Inter know how to score goals and Barca’s defence isn’t exactly the best in Europe. Remember, this is the team that is dead-locked on points with Rubin Kazan.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the favourite first goalscorer with a 2.14 price. Lionel Messi is listed at 2.4 but he may not play. Thierry Henry is listed at 2.7 while Bojan Krkic trades at 2.82. You’ll also find Andres Iniesta and Xavi at 4.0 and 5.6 respectively. Dani Alves is 8.0 and he has a tendency to pop up at just the right time- which we saw this weekend.
Eto’o is available at 3.2 while Diego Milito can be backed at 3.35. Dejan Stankovic could certainly spring a surprise and his 6.6 price to score anytime is definitely quality.
You may want to have a look at the prices on defenders to score, just before match-time, as I think this could be a tight match with very little between the two teams. One or two quality set-pieces could be the difference here.
This is a must-win for Barcelona. Should they drop all three points here, and Rubin pick up a win against Kiev, things could get pretty embarrassing pretty quickly.