Champions League Preview Betting Tips: Matchday 5

Match Day 5 in the Champions League group stages is a crucial one, with all five British teams on the verge of qualification. It's the return leg, or the second Battle of Britain as Man Utd travel to Parkhead to play Celtic. Ferguson's men edged a five-goal thriller by the odd goal in September and his former midfield dynamo Gordon Strachan will hope his Bhoys can go closer and take something off United. The draw is available at 9/4 with Stan James, even though Wayne Rooney is on fire at present; he and his teammates struggled in Copenhagen last time the Red Devils featured in the Champions League. The England striker is a sizeable 13/8 with Coral to continue his goal scoring form on Tuesday night, and find the net at any time, but don't bank on any United goal turning out to be a winning one. Elsewhere, Tuesday night sees an interesting clash at the Santiago Bernabeu as Real Madrid host Lyon. Real are on form at present and this has seen them lodged at evens or worse to win the game. However, Lyon have yet to concede a goal in the Champions League this season, winning every game so far and scoring at over two a game. Real are in free-scoring mode with 7 goals in their last two La Liga games, with Van Nistelrooy bagging all four in the demolition of Osasuna. As such this is an extremely hard one to call. Lyon appear to have the edge on Los Meringues and the 14/5 with SportingOdds looks very attractive given Madrid's inconsistency at this level. Perhaps looking at the goal scorer market is the best plan here - Van Nistelrooy is unstoppable at the moment and the 9/2 on him to score the first goal is value. If you want a slightly longer shot, quite literally, Juninho Pernambucano, Lyon's long range specialist is value at 11/1 for the last goal with Paddy Power. He has a real habit of coming up with vital goals in spectacular fashion. Kaka will look to add to his goal tally as Milan travel to AEK Athens. The Brazilian midfielder is joint top scorer in the competition and will fancy his chances of bagging at least one more on Tuesday. He is 9/4 with Paddy Power to score at anytime. Get on. Elsewhere, a Valencia win over Olympiakos at the Mestalla, available at 4/9 with VCbet, looks incredible value. The Greeks are dreadful away in the Champions League and Valencia are in great form. Fernando Morientes looks to have regained the Midas touch, which deserted him at Liverpool. Look to him to add to his four Champions League goals on Wednesday night. He is 9/2 to score the first? worth a touch I feel.