Tuesday's Champions League Tips: Draws on the menu but 23/10 Real Madrid to prove a point | OneFootball

UEFA Champions League

Tuesday's Champions League tips include backing Real Madrid to win at Benfica

Paul Higham has Tuesday's Champions Legaue play-off tips, where he fancies a couple of first-leg draws and Real Madrid to prove a point at 23/10 against Benfica...

Galatasaray v JuventusTuesday 17 February, 17:45 kick-offLive on TNT Sports 1 & Discovery+

Too many draws cost Juventus a shot at the top eight but they're 11/10 match favourites as Galatasaray's form fell off a cliff in the Champions League with just one point from their last four games ruining a positive start. They have lost just once in 11 European home games though, and Juve haven't been great of late with one win in five, including back-to-back away losses conceding three each time.

So keeping it tight will be the name of the game for Luciano Spalletti, whose side kep thhree straight clean sheets to end the league phase, as he knows another here will put them in pole position heading back to Turin with Gala not great on the road. Under 2.5 goals here is 10/11 and has landed in five of Juve's last six in the competition, while with just 20 goals Galatasaray's games had the second-lowest total in the UCL.

A draw will do for Juve, and I think they'll get it..

Benfica v Real MadridTuesday 17 February, 20:00 kick-offLive on Amazon Prime

Wouldn't you just know it! Benfica's goalkeeper scored in the 98th minute to grab his side the final play-off spot and ensure Real Madrid miss out o the top eight, and that means they play each other again! Kylian Mbappe scored twice in that epic 4-2 defeat to end the league phase as top scorer and also lead with 22 shots on target - with a few big injuries he'll be shouldering a lot of responsibility for Real.

And Real are still 10/11 favourites as even Jose Mourinho will be hard pushed to engineer another result like the last one, but 14/5 shots Benfica have now won four of the past six at home in Europe while surprisingly Real have lost six in 11 UCL matches. But we've seen this movie before with Real Madrid and they'll arrive in Lisbon with a point to prove - that's dangerous.

The old Mourinho you'd play the unders but four of Benfica's last five have in fact gon eover 3.5 goals while eight of Madrid's last 11 has seen both teams score.

Borussia Dortmund v AtalantaTuesday 17 February, 20:00 kick-offLive on Discovery+ & TNT Sports 3

This pair both lost their last two games to finish in the play-offs but domestically they're both in decent form so there's not much between them - even though at home Dortmund are naturally well fancied as 1/1 match favourites. Also typically there's been plenty of goals in Dortmund games - 15 of them in their four home games in this competition while their overall total of 36 was only matched by goals in Barcelona's games.

Serhou Guirassy is 11/10 anytime goalscorer and no wonder as Dortmund's top scorer has scored five goals in the three games, so should be the top name on your shortlist, and since we're backing a home win with a few goals he has to be backed as the most likely provider.

Monaco v PSGTuesday 17 February, 20:00 kick-offLive on TNT Sports 1 & Discovery+

The champions go through to the play-offs after winning just one of their last five in the league phase, and PSG get an all-French tie with Monaco, who themselves struggled throughout with just two wins from their eight games. Luis Enrique's side also suffered a rare league defeat on Friday night so obviously aren't in their best form - but they're still big favourites at 4/7.

Despite winning the league meeting here in November, Monaco are 9/2 for a repeat victory, as PSG are strong on the road in Europe with seven wins from 10 UCL road games recently.

They've not been as prolific as usual of late though while Monaco have hit seven in their last two at home, so Enrique will likely play it a tad safe in this first leg - and with three of Monaco's four home games ending all square then the conditions look pretty good here for another one.

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