Milan vs Barcelona Champions League Betting Preview

A really stellar fixture is setting up for today's Champions League action as two of the most storied clubs from the continent link up in the first leg of their group of eight clash. Milan play host to Barcelona and it appears as though the visitors will be coming in as the odds-on favourites to take the win in this fixture.

Punters will find Milan trading as high as 4/1 for the outright victory in this contest with Barcelona priced at 8/11 and the draw sitting at 5/2.

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It probably won't come as a very big surprise that Lionel Messi is listed as the outright favourite to open the scoring in this one with most bookmakers floating him at an 11/4 price tag in the fist goalscorer market.

Alexis Sanchez is usually in the mix for scoring the opener and he's trading at 7/2, which puts him just a shade behind Messi. Pedro trades at 4/1 while Cesc Fabregas can be backed at a 9/2 listing. Cristian Tello sits at 5/1 with Zlatan Ibrahimovic available at a 6/1 price.

Milan will be buoyed by the return of Maxi Lopez and Robinho from injury but they still face a striker dilemma with Cassano, Inzaghi and Pato all unavailable for this one. Milan managed to get by Arsenal but were seriously tested with a 3-0 result at the Emirates still being enough to go through based on Arsenal's complete failure in the opening leg.

Punters will reckon Milan will go out there and try to score early but the focus might be to simply not concede an away goal and then try to keep it tight at the Nou Camp long enough in the second leg. A lower scoring aggregate score plays to the strengths of Milan.

The bookies favour a goal scored in each half and they've got that trading at 8/13 while the preferred scoreline is 2-0 to Barca at a 5/1 price.