STUTTGART VS BARCELONA 2010 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BETTING TIPS

Those expecting a straight forward victory for the European champions could be in for a bit of a shock because, at least on paper, this looks like it could be a tricky fixture for the Catalan giants. 
Stuttgart may be languishing down in ninth in the German Bundesliga but they have now won six of their last seven games and are the league’s form team. Whilst Barcelona are currently suffering a mini injury crisis which has ruled out Seydou Keita and Eric Abidal and rates key trio Dani Alves, Xavi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as doubtful to start tonight’s game. It is also worth remembering that Barcelona only won one of their away games in the group stages whilst scoring just two goals – a 2-1 win over Dynamo Kiev.
On the other hand, the same injury concerns were present at the weekend when they beat Racing Santander 4-0 and they have also won six of their last seven league games. But Stuttgart will present a much sterner test and the question here is whether you would choose to back Barcelona at 4/6 with so many question marks surrounding them. It might be a good option to stay clear of the match odds market on this one.
Goals are rarely sparse when these two teams take to the field in their respective domestic leagues. Lionel Messi, as ever, will be the danger man for Barcelona and he can be backed at 2.5 (6/4) to score at anytime with Betfair, but the player to get your money on here is Stuttgart’s Cacau. The Brazilian-born Germany international returned from a four-week injury lay-off at the weekend and scored a first-half hat-trick on his way to netting four in a 5-1 win, he is 4.0 (3/1) on Betfair to get on the score sheet tonight. You can also get on the goals train by backing over 2.5 goals at 1.75 (8/11) and over 3.5 goals at 3.0 (2/1).
Barcelona should progress to the next round with or without a victory in the first-leg and they are 3/1 to go all the way and win the tournament. But with such a quality field and the draw for each successive stage done on a round by round basis they could conceivably have to beat Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid to win the Champions League and for that reason it is worth looking elsewhere for some value in the outright winners betting.