Juventus v Monaco Betting Tips: Italians to further cement their place in Cardiff

As I predicted, Juventus recorded a relatively comfortable victory away at Monaco in the first leg of this Champions League semi-final and many expect them to progress through to the final on Tuesday. This sort of match is all about finding value in the market.

Juventus may have only drawn their latest Serie A match against Turin rivals Torino at the weekend, however, they are still eight points clear at the top of the table and look like winning the league for the sixth consecutive year.

Even against a free-scoring Monaco side, we saw how resilient Juve are at the back and it is no surprise that they have conceded just 23 goals in 35 league games this season whilst goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has kept more Champions League clean sheets than any other keeper this season with eight. However, last week we also saw that Juventus know how to take their opportunities when they arise and it is not surprising that they have had the fourth most shots in the Champions League this season with 154 in total.

The Old Lady have been fantastic at home in recent times and their draw at home to Torino on Saturday was the first time they failed to win a match at the Juventus Stadium in 14 games. Furthermore, they have not lost a Champions League home match in nearly two years, keeping seven clean sheets in that time.

Monaco have been an entertaining package in Europe this season but we could see their European campaign come to an end on Tuesday night barring a bit of a miracle.

However, with their goal-scoring prowess, they will feel they can even find the back of the net against this very sturdy Juve side. Monaco found the back of the net three times at the weekend as they recovered from their defeat to Juventus to beat Nancy. Leonardo Jardim’s side have been on fire in front of goal all season and their record of 98 scored is 21 more than the next best. Defensively though, we have seen for most of the season that Monaco are leaky at the back and their clean sheet against Nancy was their first in seven in all competitions.

Away form has been very good for the Red and Whites in recent times with seven wins from their last eight in all competitions. However, in the Champions League, it has not been so great with just one win in their last four away from Stade Louis II in Europe.

As alluded to earlier, Juventus should come out on top with relative comfort here and, as in the first leg, I expect them to do a very professional job. Monaco are likely to go completely gung-ho as they know no other way and so the hosts really ought to catch them out on the counter at least once in the first half whilst remaining strong at the other end. With this all in mind, Juventus to be winning at both half-time and full-time is worth backing at 33/20.

Click here to read more Champions League tips.