Champions League betting – Barcelona vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Barcelona vs. Shakhtar Donetsk betting preview, odds and tips

Barcelona

Jose Guardiola’s men left the Nou Camp 2 weeks ago with their held high and their pride well entirely restored after they asserted their dominance over Arsenal in the 2nd leg of the round of 16. They showed everyone that day that even without pivotal player Gerard Pique they can still match anyone blow for blow. Barcelona will always be dangerous and with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa fit and likely to start they will go into this fixture surely as hot favourites. Domestically Villa has suffered a dip in form lately; he suffered a torrid time in Barca’s fixture against Getafe in which they only managed a narrow 2-1 win due to a Dani Alves screamer and a late strike from Bojan. So he will be looking to re-assert himself in this important fixture so a bet on him scoring a brace in this fixture could be an intelligent one at odds of 4.5 on BetFred.

Lionel Messi on the other hand had a stormer of a game and provided the assist for both goals in this fixture, after dazzling the Getafe backline with his trademark trickery. Messi still leads the La Liga scoring charts and after his performance at the weekend and against Arsenal in the round of 16 he is definitely one to watch. So a bet on him to score at any time looks like it could definitely end up paying off with odds of 1.67 on Coral. Barcelona may score a lot but this open style of play does leave them open to defensive frailties and they haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last 3 games, so with Shakhtar coming here with nothing to lose why not have a bet on both teams scoring at odds of 2.25 on SkyBet.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar are already a clear 12 points ahead of their nearest rivals Dynamo Kiev in their domestic league and look set to run away with it, their 4-0 demolition of Volyn at the weekend being evidence of this. Influential captain Dario Srna picked up the man of the match award and rightly so, providing the assists for three of the four goals netted in the fixture. He will be a massive figure for Donetsk at the Nou Campo and will need to be at his best to get forward as well as stopping the marauding runs of Lionel Messi, he is a good bet to score the last goal of the fixture at odds of 29.0 on SkyBet.

Manchester United target Douglas Costa scored a fine goal at the weekend and with rumours of a move to Manchester rife he will be looking to put in a hell of a shift against ‘The best team in the world’ so a bet on him opening the scoring could be an ambitious one but could in the end pay off at odds of 19.0 on SkyBet.

Highlighted Bets:

To Score a Brace David Villa 4.5 BetFred
Anytime Goalscorer Lionel Messi 1.67 Coral
Both Teams to Score 2.25 SkyBet
Last Goalscorer Dario Srna 29.0 SkyBet
First Goalscorer Douglas Costa 19.0 SkyBet

By John Fernandez

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