How did Liverpool and Manchester City get on in Tuesday’s Champions League games?

Both English clubs claimed impressive away wins on Tuesday night, City thrashing Club Bruges 5-1 and Liverpool winning at Atletico Madrid 3-2.

City took hold of their game from the 1^st minute and looked a class above their Belgian hosts in every position. A brace from Riyad Mahrez, one each from full-backs Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker and a first ever Champions League goal from young substitute Cole Palmer saw City in cruise control, so much so that the last goal of the contest was scored by the hosts despite them looking pretty toothless throughout, Hans Vanaken getting the consolation.

Shirt Numbers (settled at 181)

With Bruges playing a striker who wears the number 90, while also including a number 77 at the back, this spread was always going to be higher than usual at 83-88, and even though neither of those players got on the scoresheet, buyers still made a big profit. Young City sub Cole Palmer, number 80, came on and scored his first goal at this level to make sure buyers were in clover, winning 93 times their bet.

Liverpool faced a much trickier task than City, heading to Madrid to take on the Spanish champions Atletico, but they quickly took control and were two goals up in 13 minutes. Mo Salah’s deflected effort – making it nine straight  games he’s score in - was followed by a great volley from Naby Keita and it looked like Jurgen Klopp’s side were well in control. Antoine Griezmann single handedly got Atletico back into the game with two goals in 14 minutes, and the two teams headed in at the break level at 2-2. Having been the hero of the first half, Griezmann turned villain just seven minutes after the break, receiving a straight red for kicking Roberto Firmino in the head, and while the Reds didn’t have it their own way against the 10 men, they were gifted a penalty in the 78^th minute and that man Salah stroked it home. Liverpool kept up their record of scoring 3 of more goals in every away game this season, something they’ll hope to carry on this weekend at Old Trafford.

Hotshots (settled at 100)

As we reported in yesterday’s blog, we’d seen plenty of buying and taking the overs ahead of the Atletico v Liverpool game, despite the Spanish side’s reputation as defensive masters, and those buyers were proved right. Whether it was shirt numbers, goal minutes, Salah or Griezmann goals and plenty more besides, the overs copped in a number of markets. The Hotshots market awards 25 points per goal from any of four named players, two from each side. Last night the spread was set at 31-35, with the four contributors Salah, Griezmann, Sadio Mane and Joao Felix. While Mane and Felix didn’t register, two each from Salah and Griezmann gave buyers a profit of 65 times their stake.

How did Andy Murray get on in his European Open 1^st round game?

If Andy Murray is still battling to get back to full fitness, he was given a proper run out yesterday in round 1 of the European Open, winning 7-6 6-7 7-6 against Frances Tiafoe in a match that lasted 3 hours 45. The three-time Major winner had to save two match points before finally winning through, though he will need a long rest before taking on number two seed Diego Schwartzman tomorrow.

Total Points (settled at 267)

Murray said last week after losing to Alex Zverev in Indian Wells that he was playing like someone ranked 50 or 60 in the world, and that seemed pretty accurate as this battle with world number 48 Tiafoe ebbed and flowed. Punters who predicted a long, close match, did well out of buying in a number of markets. The X-Courts market, which multiplies each players games won in each set by each other then aggregates them, hit the maximum 126, and Total Points buyers, set at 151-156,  won 111 times their bet.