Tuesday Champions League Betting Preview

We've got the knockout stages back under way in the 2012 Champions League and Lyon take on upstart side Apoel Nicosia while Bayer Leverkusen face off against tournament favourites Barcalona with kick-offs scheduled at 19:45.

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Zenit St Petersburg take on Benfica tomorrow while the match likely to draw the bulk of the attention is Milan and Arsenal. It should be noted that the Russian side being involved ensures a 17:00 kickoff for the first fixture.

Barcelona are reeling at the moment with a shock loss to Osasuna at the weekend and then confirmation that David Villa will likely miss the remainder of the season with a broken leg or, more specifically, a stress fracture to the left shin bone.

Spain manager Vicente del Bosque expressed concern that this could impact Spain's chances at Euro 2012.

Despite Villa's absence, it appears as though Barceloa are still the standout favourites for today's fixture with a number of major bookmakers floating them at a relatively slim 2/5 price tag as the host side continue to trade at 8/1.

The draw can be backed at a 14/5 price tag.

It's probably not a major surprise that Lionel Messi is favoured to open the scoring and he's priced as short as 5/2 to grab the opener while Cesc Fabregas, who has been excelling in an off-the-striker position coming out of midfield, is the 7/2 second choice.

Lyon are also listed at an odds-on price for their victory and you can back them as low as 4/9 for the win while Nicosia are floated as high as 7/1. They didn't get this far by playing poorly and they'll be looking to keep their incredible run going. That fixture specifically looks to be ripe for an in-play wager.