CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Our football tipster The Ultra previews Tuesday’s fascinating games between PSG v MANCHESTER CITY and FC PORTO v LIVERPOOL both with extended match stats and a recommended BETDAQ bet.
PSG V MANCHESTER CITY
8pm The Champions League returns on Tuesday and we have some excellent fixtures again this week! As I said on Matchday 1, the Group stages look absolutely incredible this season and we kick off Tuesday with PSG hosting Manchester City. This is what Champions League nights are made for! We have a very open market on BETDAQ Betting Exchange and I have to say; this is a fascinating tie. It’s a very important one too as PSG started off the Group with a very disappointing draw against Club Brugge. As everyone knows at this stage, the Champions League is the acid test for PSG and the pressure must be unreal. To some extent Manchester City face the same question, but obviously winning the Premier League is a way better achievement than Ligue 1.
PSG have been completely untested domestically in Ligue 1, and this is obviously a huge jump up in class today. It will be fascinating to see how they cope with a Manchester City side who have started the season in top form. It was an excellent weekend for them in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Chelsea, along with Manchester United and Liverpool dropping points. Their performance away to Chelsea was excellent, they created an xG of 1.73 and only conceded 0.32. I fully respect PSG have a lot of stars now and they look like a top team, but they aren’t at City’s level in my opinion. City won the last two meetings last season too, winning 2-1 and 2-0. City look excellent value for me here at 2.38 – they tick every box and PSG are still working on their system – their draw with Club Brugge highlighted that while they can get away with it every week in Ligue 1.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Manchester City to beat PSG at 2.38 with BETDAQ Exchange.
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQPsgMnc
MATCH STATS
● Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City will meet for the sixth time in this game, while the French side are still looking for their first win in this fixture (D2 L3). Only against Juventus (8) have Paris Saint-Germain played more games in European competition without winning.
● Paris Saint-Germain have failed to keep a clean sheet in all four of their meetings with Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League – only against AC Milan have they played as many games without managing a clean sheet in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (also four).
● Including two defeats to Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League last season, Paris Saint-Germain have lost four of their last five games against English sides in the competition (W1). Indeed, the French side have lost each of their last three games when hosting English opponents (v Manchester United in 2019 and 2020, v Manchester City in 2021).
● Paris Saint-Germain were held by Club Brugge on MD1, extending their winless run in the UEFA Champions League to four games (D1 L3). The last time they failed to win their opening two games of a campaign in this competition was back in 2004-05, losing 0-3 to Chelsea and 0-2 v CSKA Moscow.
● Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 10 away games in the UEFA Champions League (W8 D2), while they haven’t lost an away game in the competition outside of England since December 2017 (1-2 v Shakhtar Donetsk).
● Paris Saint-Germain are winless in their last three home games in the UEFA Champions League (D1 L2), with the most recent one being a defeat to Manchester City last season. All three of those have come in the knockout stages of the competition, however, while they’ve only lost one of their last 27 home games in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League (W21 D5).
● Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi has scored six goals in four UEFA Champions League games against teams managed by Pep Guardiola (four against Manchester City and two against Bayern Munich) – the most of any player in the competition against the current Manchester City boss.
● On MD1 against RB Leipzig, Manchester City’s Jack Grealish became the first Englishman to both score and assist on his UEFA Champions League debut since Wayne Rooney in September 2004 (versus Fenerbahçe). Grealish could become the first English player to score in both of his first two appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
● Neymar has scored 14 goals in 13 home games for Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League, while also providing four assists in this run. The Brazilian has averaged either a goal or assist every 65 minutes for PSG at the Parc des Princes in the competition.
● Since the start of the 2018-19 season, the three players who have made the most successful take-ons in the UEFA Champions League are the trio who started up front for Paris Saint-Germain on MD1 of this season’s tournament: Lionel Messi (124), Neymar (110) and Kylian Mbappé (70).
FC PORTO V LIVERPOOL
8pm Next we have Porto hosting Liverpool in Group B. Porto would have been delighted to start with a 0-0 draw against Atletico Madrid, and they played pretty well too. I’m sure they will be a decent test for Liverpool, but I’m very happy to have a Max Bet on Liverpool at 1.8. I’m sure there will be a lot of different opinions on the Liverpool price here because they conceded three goals away to Brentford at the weekend, but Liverpool have been in excellent form in general and should outclass this Porto side. My only worry is Liverpool conceded an xG of 3.13 at Brentford which is obviously a very poor performance at the back, but other than that game they have been excellent this season. They deserve to have more points in the Premier League as they battered Chelsea but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Porto are a solid side – they generally perform well and they will record an upset or two each season. They played very well away to Atletico in their first Champions League game, and I don’t put much weight on their domestic form because it’s a low level. Atletico haven’t been firing thus far this season though, and they dropped more points at the weekend as well – I feel Porto caught Atletico at the right time, and Liverpool will be a much bigger test here. I expected to see Liverpool trading around 1.65 before clicking into the market and I’m very happy to be getting 1.8. The counter-attacking style of play should really suit Liverpool here and they can run out easy winners – they are a Max Bet for me.
The Ultra Says:
Five points win Liverpool to beat FC Porto at 1.8 with BETDAQ Exchange.
You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQPorLfc
MATCH STATS
● FC Porto have faced Liverpool on eight previous occasions in European competition – six of which have been in the UEFA Champions League – while they are still looking for their first victory against the Reds (D3 L5).
● This will be the fifth time Liverpool have faced FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League since Jürgen Klopp became the club’s manager – they’ve won more games (3), scored more goals (11) and kept more clean sheets (3) against them than any other opponent in the competition under Klopp.
● FC Porto have only scored one goal in their four UEFA Champions League games against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool (D1 L3), despite attempting 45 shots across these meetings. Liverpool, meanwhile, have netted 11 times from 54 attempts against them in this period.
● FC Porto have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three group stage games at the Estádio do Dragão in the UEFA Champions League; since the current group stage format came in (2003-04), this is their longest run of this type.
● Liverpool are unbeaten in their last five away games in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (W4 D1), while they’ve kept a clean sheet in three of their four victories in this run. Their last away defeat in the group stage came back in September 2019, losing 0-2 at Napoli.
● FC Porto’s previous UEFA Champions League game against Atlético Madrid saw just 11 shots attempted (five for, six against); the fewest of any game on MD1. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s first game of the 2021-22 tournament saw 30 shots attempted, with 23 of those coming in the Reds’ favour (seven against).
● Liverpool generated five shots following high turnovers on MD1 against AC Milan (sequences starting within 40 metres of the opposition goal) – the most by any team in the UEFA Champions League in the opening matchday. Indeed, only Bayern Munich and Chelsea (17) forced more high turnovers overall in their opening game than the Reds (15).
● Liverpool’s Sadio Mané has been directly involved in five goals in four UEFA Champions League appearances against FC Porto, scoring four times and providing one assist. Indeed, Mané’s four goals against FC Porto are the joint-most by a Liverpool player against an opponent in the competition, along with Steven Gerrard v Marseille and Philippe Coutinho v Spartak Moscow.
● FC Porto striker Mehdi Taremi scored on his first UEFA Champions League start at the Estádio do Dragão (v Juventus in February), and could become the fifth player to score in his first two home starts for the club in the competition (after Zé Carlos, Artur, Lisandro López and Vincent Aboubakar).
● Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané are Liverpool’s joint-top scorers away from home in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, with both netting 11 times for the club.
