Young Boys v Shakhtar / Monaco v Fenerbahçe – 9/5 Double

Young Boys v Shakhtar 

Having beaten their Swiss opponents in Donetsk (2-0) in the first leg, Shakhtar are very much in the driving seat in this tie. The Ukrainians are likely to be in confident mood ahead of their trip to the Swiss capital Bern and it appears as though only a major slip up would prevent them from going through.

The team from Donetsk dominated the first leg from the off and, although they were aided by a Young boys red card in the 55th minute, they looked like winning the game anyway at 1-0 up. Other than ridiculous scorelines, a 2-0 win in the home leg of a two-legged tie is pretty much the ideal result. Not only have Shakhtar established a commanding lead, they also prevented their opponents from scoring an away goal. Keeping a clean sheet in the home leg of these ties is often seen as the key to success.

Thanks to their performance at home, this second leg appears to be set up nicely in Shakhtar’s favour and, from a betting angle, the way to play this is to take ‘Shakhtar To Score Over 1.5 Goals’ as part of a double.

The hosts really are up against it here and they will surely need to attack the game. Scoring a minimum of two goals is the only way Young Boys can stand a chance of making it through to the play-offs. With this in mind, Shakhtar will be looking to capitalise on the space vacated in their opponents’ defensive third. Although the counter-attack won’t be the only option for Shakhtar. They have the superior quality in their ranks and if they choose to, dominating the game in terms of possession will be no problem. Against a side who certainly aren’t the sturdiest at the back this tactic could also yield goals.

As well as how the game is likely to go, the stats support the idea of Shakhtar goals too. They’ve scored two or more in four of their last five away games. Another positive is the fact that Young Boys have leaked goals of late. They’ve conceded in each of their last five at home, conceding two or more in three of those. On top of this, Shakhtar have scored on at least two occasions in each of the last three meetings between these two sides.

Monaco v Fenerbahçe

The game between these two last week was one of the more exciting ones. Both teams looked reasonably decent going forward, while neither were particularly assured at the back. Fenerbahçe have the lead, but it’s a narrow one. And, at 2-1, Monaco are certainly not out of this tie, especially since they managed to grab what could be a crucial away goal.

This game is still very much in the balance, but the Turkish side do have the aggregate lead and they can use this to their advantage here.

From a betting point of view, adding ‘Fenerbahçe To Score Over 0.5 Goals’ – in other words to score a single goal – to this bet looks a good choice.

As outlined in last week’s winning tip on the first leg of this tie, Monaco really aren’t a great side when it comes to defending and it’s not often that they keep a clean sheet. They can cause teams problems when going forward, but often falter due to a lack of defensive solidity. The fact that the Ligue 1 side conceded in the home leg of last season’s play-off round, a tie they lost, before going on to concede in two of their three Europa League home games is supportive of this.

What’s more in this one is that Monaco, knowing that they’re aren’t a defensive side anyway, will have to attack. They do have an away goal, but without scoring at home this won’t be enough. Monaco attacking could suit the visitors down to the ground, especially with the pace in their forward line.

It’s not that Monaco can’t come through this tie as the winners, they can, but if they do it is likely to be on their attacking strength and because they’ve outscored their opponents here as opposed to grinding out a 1-0. All in all the visitors look to have plenty in their favour and should be capable of scoring an away goal of their own in this second leg.

See more Champions League tips here.