Sports Blog 18/02/2015: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League Last 16, Wednesday 18th February 2015

After a double draw last night, with Chelsea sneaking an away goal and Shakhtar holding Bayern Munich at bay to a surprisingly goalless affair, the Champions League last 16 continues tonight.

On Sky Sports 5 at 7.45pm, current champions Real Madrid travel to Germany to face Schalke in a replay of last year’s final 16 fixture. Madrid ran rampant in that tie, scoring 9 over two legs to unceremoniously dump Schalke out of the competition. Real are no weaker this season, winning all 6 of their group games, disposing of Liverpool in the process, whilst sitting atop La Liga by one point above Barcelona.

If that was not enough, Ancelotti’s side only conceded 3 goals in their past 9 European games, an impressive stat for a team more known for their formidable front line. Madrid will be missing some key players, with Modric, Rodriguez, Ramos, Khedira and Coentrao all absent. Yet this still leaves Cristiano Ronaldo, on 36 goals this season despite not scoring in his last 3 appearances, at 12/5 to score first, alongside Karim Benzema on 19 goals at 9/2 and Gareth Bale on 16 goals at 9/2.



Schalke, on the other hand, lose some of their sheen when put next to the glow radiating off of Real. They are currently sitting in 4th in the Bundesliga, but a staggering 18 points off of league leaders Bayern Munich, and have won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1 in their past 6 games. Yet they did manage a recent draw against Bayern in the Allianz Arena and qualified from a Champions League group that contained Chelsea.

If Schalke stand a chance of getting anything tonight, then Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (8 goals, 17/2), Tranquillo Barnetta (4 goals, 18/1) and Max Meyer (3 goals, 16/1) need to find better form than they have of late. Yet Schalke are likely to be haunted by last year’s walloping, despite Real showing their flaws in a 4-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid two weeks ago, and our clients fancy the Spanish side at a Real Madrid/Schalke (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 1.2-1.4 with a Total Goals spread of 3.05-3.25.

The other game tonight, at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1, offers a fortuitous draw for two of the smaller sides in the tournament, as Porto fly out to Switzerland to face FC Basel. It may sound unlikely, but Basel’s St Jakob-Park has become a European fortress of late, as Paulo Sousa’s side have won 7 out of their last 11 home games in Europe, with only Real Madrid beating Basel on Swiss soil in the same time frame.

Even more impressively they managed to escape a Champions League group that contained the aforementioned Spanish giants, alongside Liverpool, who Basel knocked out by drawing with them at Anfield. As they sit at the head of the Swiss Super League by 8 points, Basel will be looking to Shkelzen Gashi (13 goals, 7/1), Marco Streller (6 goals, 8/1) and Breel Donald Embolo (5 goals, 7/1) to continue their strong performances.



Porto, sitting in 2nd in the Portuguese league behind Benfica, topped their group without suffering a loss. However, theirs was one of the easier draws, containing Shakhtar, Athletic Bilbao and BATE Borisov, a far cry from the European royalty of Basel’s group. Yet they have won 7 of their past 8 games, and importantly have past form in Europe.

On paper the Portuguese side have the better players, with Jackson Martinez on 25 goals at 5/1, with Yasine Brahimi on 10 goals at 17/2 and Torres Munoz Oliver on 6 goals at 12/1, and the former Champions League winners Porto will feel confident they can get the job done against Basel. However, the Swiss side’s home form complicates things, and our Spreadex traders are offering a narrow Porto/FC Basel (h) Goal Supremacy spread betting quote of 0.2-0.4, with a Total Goals spread of 2.25-2.45.