IT might not be the glamour tie of the Last 16 but as Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) explains, there’s always money to be made in the Champions League.
FC Basel v FC Porto | Wednesday 19:45 | Sky Sports 1
Basel for me are one of those sides that don’t get the credit they deserve. This year they’re gunning for a sixth successive Swiss title and looking to do further damage in what has already been a successful season in Europe.
Paulo Sousa’s side shouldn’t be a surprise package in Europe anymore when you assess their progress in recent years. Manchester United fell victim to them in the 2011/12 group stages before they beat Bayern Munich at home in the Last 16.
The following season they got all the way to the Europa League semi-finals, and despite finishing third in their group last season, they did manage to beat Chelsea home and away. As Liverpool found out earlier this season, they don’t give a fig about reputations.
Basel find themselves going off at 12/5 to win at home to Porto on Wednesday night. Do you think Liverpool would be 12/5 at home to Porto? Of course they wouldn’t stupid!
Of course Porto won their group didn’t they? Well I reckon bar Monaco’s pool it was the weakest group in the competition. They were up against a Shakhtar Donetsk side who couldn’t play at home, Athletic Bilbao who are perennial poor travellers and BATE Borisov who leaked a stunning 24 goals in their six games. If it was a horse race, no one would care about the form.
Porto currently sit four points behind Benfica in the Portuguese league. That’s the same Benfica who finished bottom of that awful group involving Monaco.
My concluding point on this, is the excellent European home form enjoyed by Basel in recent seasons. Liverpool and Ludogorets were sent packing without a goal being conceded in the group stages while Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester United, Valencia and Zenit have all been roughed up and kicked out of Switzerland with nothing but shame to show in the last four years. This side are underrated.
12/5 on Sousa’s side looks gargantuan and I’ll gleefully back it. I’m not going to fanny around finding handicap options at reduced odds and instead I’ll plunge deep inside the fleshy price of Basel with Betfred.
Best Bet
FC Basle v FC Porto – Basel to win (12/5 Betfred)
1-1 Correct Score Cashback
Betfred refund any losing Correct Score bets on a live TV match if the game ends 1-1. Decent eh?
So if you’re hunting a Correct Score winner, make sure you head to Betfred.
TOPICS European Football Football
