Last night Champions League quarter-final matches were marred by the shock explosions that occurred near the Borussia Dortmund bus which was transporting the players from their hotel to the home stadium Signal Iduna Park prior to their first leg quarter-final match against Monaco. There were three reported explosions, which were unexplained at the time of writing, and they caused damage to the team bus injuring one of the Borussia Dortmund players Marc Bartra, but thankfully not seriously. UEFA and club officials met to discuss the incident and decided to postpone the match and announced later the match will be played tonight at 6.45pm GMT.
Last night’s other match between Juventus and Barcelona at the Juventus Stadium in Turin proved to be a great night for the Italian giants who won 3-0 thanks to a first half brace from Dybala’s and second half third from Chiellini. This leaves Barcelona with another mountain to climb at the Nou Camp in eight days time and while they managed to overcome a 4-0 deficit against PSG in the last round it’s unlikely they will be able to achieve such a remarkable feat this time round.
Tonight’s Champions League quarter-final action involves the competitions favourites Bayern Munich and Real Madrid at the Allianz Arena and it is sure to be a highly entertaining and pulsating affair played at a high tempo with plenty of attacking and goal scoring opportunities, which should yield plenty of goals. There are doubts surrounding the fitness of Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski who picked up a shoulder injury at the weekend and the home teams have been drifting as a result, while Real Madrid could be without the services of experienced centre back Pepe. From a betting perspective going for goals should return a profit and either backing Over 3.5 Goals or Both Teams to Score ‘Yes’ and Over 3.5 Goals match double should return a profit.
The latter stages of the Champions League is usually reserved for the elite of European football however, Leicester City, like they did in the Premier League last season, have confounded their minnow status and bucked that trend and there progress in the competition this season has been made even more remarkable given their league form this season. It’s fair to say sacked manager Claudio Ranieri’s experience in Europe helped the Foxes reach this stage of the competition and without his vast experience to draw on; it’s unlikely they will be able find a way past 2016 finalists Atletico Madrid over the two legs.
