Adrian Mills’ selections for this week’s Champions League ties include wins for two German giants.
A new era dawns for the Champions League this week as the league phase is introduced with 36 teams playing the first of eight matches each in a bid to reach the knockout stages.
The top eight teams after the league phase go straight through to the round of 16, with the clubs finishing between ninth and 24th competing in a two-legged play-off round to join them after matchday eight in January.
There will be six matches per day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week, including some fascinating ties such as AC Milan v Liverpool, Real Madrid v Stuttgart and Manchester City v Inter Milan.
We have picked out four best bets from the midweek matches including two from the first night of action.
Best bets
Bayern Munich to beat Dinamo Zagreb to nil
17/20
Sporting Lisbon to beat Lille
7/10
Borussia Dortmund to beat Club Brugge
1/1
Crvena Zvezda to beat Benfica
14/5
Bayern can blast out of the blocks
German giants Bayern Munich are experts at avoiding early upsets in their Champions League campaigns and can extend their impressive record in group matches by beating Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
The six-time European champions should be able to get off the mark without conceding a goal as they have kept three clean sheets in their last four Champions League home fixtures.
Croatian opponents Dinamo Zagreb could manage only four goals in their six games the last time they reached the group stage in 2022, when they were beaten without scoring by AC Milan and Salzburg.
Bayern won both games without their defence being breached when these teams met in the group stage in 2015-16 and a similar outcome looks likely in this one-off fixture in Bavaria.
Sporting in flying form
Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon are hard to oppose when they host Lille on Tuesday.
Sporting are off to a brilliant start in the Primeira Liga, with 19 goals scored and only two conceded as they have won their first five games.
They already have a 2-0 home victory over Porto in the bag and, while Lille hail from a major European league, they have hit a rough patch, losing their last three matches in all competitions including a 2-1 defeat on the road at Slavia Prague in the previous round.
Dortmund to launch another title quest
Borussia Dortmund fell just short in the Champions League last season, losing 2-0 to Real Madrid in the final at Wembley, but they can open the new European campaign with an away win over Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Dortmund have begun the season well for and posted some excellent results on the road in this competition last season with victories in Paris, Milan and Newcastle.
Club Brugge have already suffered two league defeats in Belgium this season and should lack the class to hold back the Bundesliga side.
Home underdogs can cause an upset
Crvena Zvezda have the firepower required to upset Benfica in Belgrade on Thursday. The Serbian side are again managed by Vladen Milojevic, who was their boss when they beat Liverpool 2-0 at home in 2018-19.
Benfica have been strong at home so far this season, but Bruno Lage’s side have picked up just one point from two away games, losing at Famalicao and salvaging a draw at Moreirense with a late penalty.
The Portuguese side look well worth opposing as favourites for a road game in a hostile atmosphere.
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