UEFA Champions League: FC Basel v FC Bayern Munich Odds and Betting Preview

BASEL, SWITZERLAND - Basel have been rewarded with a round of 16 tie against Bavarian giants Bayern Munich after knocking out Manchester United in the previous stage of the UEFA Champions Leauge. The Swiss side will be up against the odds once again, but German coach Heiko Vogel knows that anything is possible in front of a sell-out crowd at St. Jakob Park.

Despite playing away from home, Bayern Munich are strongly fancied to win the first leg after 90 minutes, and the away win is best-priced at 8/13 (bet £13 to make £8 profit) with Bet Victor and Ladbrokes. A draw would still leave plenty to play for going into the return leg at 3/1 with bwin and bet365, whilst even if Basel can win at home at 11/2 with Boylesports and William Hill, Bayern will still be favourites with the bookmakers to progress to the next round.

The 2-1 win over Manchester United last December will live long in the memory of Basel fans, as local lads Marco Streller and Alexander Frei knocked out a side that had made three of the previous four Champions League finals. Basel are currently top of the Super League, six points ahead of Young Boys with a game in hand, and are the first team from Switzerland to make the knock-out stages of Europe’s premier competition. Young prodigy Xherdan Shaqiri created both of the goals in the win over United, and if Basel are to stay in this tie then he will have to play another stormer. Shaqiri will be playing for Bayern next season which adds extra intrigue to the tie, and boss Vogel is a self-confessed fan of the Bavarian outfit.

Bayern Munich are the third favourites to win the Champions League, behind the La Liga pair of Real Madrid and Barcelona at 13/2 with Bet Victor. As if they needed extra motivation to win their first Champions League title since 2001, the final this season will be held at the Allianz Arena. They are at 1/7 with Paddy Power to qualify for the quarter-finals, but Basel must be taken seriously. As odds-on shots to win tonight they will be in plenty of accumulators, but punters should be aware that Bayern have won just four of their previous 12 matches in all competitions. Worse still, they drew 0-0 at bottom club Freiburg at the weekend, and they still have not managed to sort out the Arjen Robben situation, who eats by himself at the club canteen and has been relegated to the bench. Plenty will be expecting Bayern to grab an away goal in Switzerland tonight, and the man to do that could be Mario Gomez, who has scored 28 goals in his last 30 games and only played 73 minutes at the weekend.

In the correct score betting, it is worth noting that Basel have conceded 10 goals in the competition thus far and are the only remaining side that have failed to keep a single clean sheet in the group stage. The favourite scorelines tonight are 1-0 and 2-0 wins for the Germans, which are both at 7/1 with Ladbrokes, although 13/2 on either of the scores over at bet365 could be a wiser play as they will refund losing correct score bets if the game finishes goal-less. However Bayern have only been involved in two goal-less draws this season, so perhaps it is not worth dwelling on Saturday’s shock result in Baden-Württemberg. A 1-1 draw is next at 15/2 with William Hill, and whilst Basel fans would still be hoping for an upset at the Allianz Arena, it would hand the advantage to Bayern. 2-1 and 3-0 wins to the away side are next at 15/2 and 11/1 with Coral and a 1-0 win for Basel is as big as 16/1 with Paddy Power.

Mario Gomez is only one goal behind Messi in the tournament goalscoring charts with six goals and heads the first goalscorer betting at an industry-high of 4/1 with Coral. Gomez has been in inspired form for both club and country this season and is really hitting back at his critics, but punters may prefer someone else as a wager at bigger odds tonight. Alexander Frei has eight goals in 11 Champions League appearances, and he appeals for the home side at 9/1 with Sky Bet. For Bayern, Ribéry and Kroos are both dangers at 11/2 and 9/1 respectively with Boylesports, whilst at even bigger odds young midfielder Fabian Frei is tempting at 18/1 with bet365 having scored three Champions League goals in eight matches.

In other markets Bayern can be backed at 7/5 with Paddy Power to lead at half-time and full-time, and they are 7/4 with Sky Bet to win to nil. Both teams to score is 10/11 with Ladbrokes and Gomez is 7/2 with Betfred to score two of more goals in the game.

Looking further ahead, Gomez is 4/1 with Paddy Power to win the Golden Boot and Basel are 400/1 with bet365 to win the competition. Bayern are 2/1 on Betfair to reach the final in May.

The match kicks-off at 8.45pm local time on Wednesday 22 February, which is 7.45pm in the UK. It is live on Sky Sports 2.

FC Basel v FC Bayern Munich Match Odds

FC Basel v FC Bayern Munich Correct Score Odds

FC Basel v FC Bayern Munich First Goalscorer Odds

FC Basel v FC Bayern Munich HT/FT Odds