Betting: Barcelona to break PSG hearts on Valentine’s Day
Barcelona travel to the city of love on Valentine’s Day to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the opening match of the Champions League knock-out stage.
The Spanish giants won the 2006 edition of Europe’s premier competition in Paris, and the clash between two of the continent’s largest sides is sure to set hearts fluttering.
Unusually for two sides who tend to dominate their domestic leagues, they both sit second in their respective divisions.
Barca are a point back from Real Madrid, though are unbeaten since October in La Liga.
Luis Enrique’s men are Spain’s top scorers, and put six past Alaves on Saturday.
The famed ‘MSN’ of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all netted in that dismantling – the trio have an astonishing 66 goals between them in all competitions this season.
Messi has the most out of anyone in the Champions League so far with 10 – four more than closest rival and PSG talisman Edinson Cavani.
Those goals helped Barca to comfortably win Group C – though the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City shows the five-time European champions aren’t infallible.
PSG made harder work of things, finishing second in Group A behind Arsenal.
Unai Emery’s side could only manage a home 2-2 draw over winless Ludogorets in their final match, handing top spot to the Gunners.
Emery’s first season in France hasn’t been the happiest so far – they sit three points back from Monaco and only marginally ahead of Nice in the closest Ligue 1 title race in years.
This time last season, PSG were 25 points ahead of their nearest challengers in a league they’re expected to walk.
The Parisians have reached the quarter-finals every season since 2013, but will need something special to get that far this time around.
Barca won 3-1 in the French capital on their way to a 5-1 aggregate victory when these sides met in the 2015 last-eight, and I think we’ll see another comfortable victory again tonight.
Back a Barcelona victory at 9/8 with 188Bet.
And with so many attacking players on display, I predict goals.
There have been 15 in their last four meetings, and I’ll be backing over 3.5 goals at 2/1 with 188Bet.
Pointers
Barcelona – 9/8 (188Bet)
Over 3.5 goals – 2/1 (188Bet)