Champions League Betting: Real problems for Madrid as Liverpool touch odds of 11

/ Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 25 February 2009 / Leave a Comment

It's looking good for the English teams in the Champions League once again after Chelsea defeated Juventus at home to take a one goal lead into the second leg but the big upset of the night came as Liverpool beat Real Madrid in their own backyard after touching 11 on Betfair...

Of the four English teams only Manchester United won't be taking a lead into the second-leg of the Champions League last 16 stage after both Liverpool and Chelsea won their respective matches this evening to go with Arsenal's win over Roma yesterday.

Chelsea only ever traded at a high of [1.95] to defeat Juventus at Stamford Bridge and the 1-0 correct scoreline was also of relatively little surprise to punters on Betfair as it only ever touched [8.0]. The lead, courtesy of a first-half Didier Drogba goal puts Chelsea very much in the driving seat and they are just [1.36] to qualify but the layers won't be taking too many chances with Juve's home record and 3.0 is the biggest you can get on Claudio Ranieri's side having their name in the draw for the next round. Chelsea are the third-favourites to win the competition at [8.6] whilst Juventus are available at [28.0].

If there was little surprise about Chelsea's win, the same cannot be said of Liverpool's at the Santiago Bernabeu, of all places. Liverpool had drifted to odds of [11.0] in running on Betfair before an equally surprising candidate popped up to open the scoring. Yossi Benayoun was matched at a high [32.0] to be first goalscorer and he ended up being the only goalscorer as Liverpool hung on to a priceless 1-0 lead; under 1.5 goals was matched at a high of 3.35. No surprise then that Steven Gerrard and co they trade at just 1.35 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Liverpool trade at [10.5] to win a competition they last won back in 2005; Real Madrid have drifted to [36.0].

Lisbon was the place to be for goals this evening but they were all scored by the same team, and that was the away side. 5 goals or more in the match touched [38.0] on Betfair and Bayern Munich's price of [3.1] in-running was in hindsight, a real steal. Bayern are now into 11 to win the Champions League whilst Sporting Lisbon are the only side still left in the competition to be available at odds of [1000.0]. Understandably.

In what was arguably the least glamorous of the evening's ties Villarreal and Panathinaikos shared the spoils in Spain. The draw touched a high of [4.0] when the Greek side went a goal up and the 1-1 scoreline was matched at [12.5].

Barcelona remain the tournament favourites at [3.95] with the English trio of Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool just behind them in that very same order.