UEFA Champions League football betting - Inter vs Barcelona

Barcelona travel to Milan tonight in the Champions League looking to become the first club to successfully defend their title in the competition`s current form. The Catalans have swept all before them in Europe this season and continue to top the La Liga table, in large part due the efforts of Lionel Messi. Jose Mourinho, Inter`s manager who once dubbed himself `the special one`, will need to live up to the nickname and work out how to stop the little Argentinian ending his dream of reaching Inter`s first Champions League final in almost forty years.

The visitors are favourites for the game at 6/4 (bet £40 to win £60 profit), leaving Inter as underdogs in their own backyard at 21/10, with the draw at 23/10. Both sides are in good form with the hosts winning five of their last six matches in all competitions, failing to do so only in a creditable 2-2 draw at Fiorentina. Barca have seemed impossible to contain for much of this season but failed to score last time out, drawing 0-0 with Espanyol. It finished goalless last time the teams met at the San Siro, in October, and Mourinho will know how important it would be if his team managed to stop their opponents scoring a precious away goal.

A 1-1 draw has been made the favourite score for tonight`s game at 6/1 as Inter`s home advantage seems set to make the teams very evenly matched. The next most likely outcome is a 1-0 win for Barcelona at 7/1 with the same scoreline in the home side`s favour slightly longer at 8/1. SkyBet offer 9/1 that the game finishes goalless and Barcelona are 12/1 to win 2-0, a scoreline that would almost certainly put the tie beyond their opponents.

Lionel Messi has been made favourite to open the scoring tonight at 4/1 after scoring thirty-four goals for Barcelona this season in all competitions, including a hat-trick in the last round as he single-handedly tore Arsenal apart. He is followed by another Argentine, Inter`s top-scorer, Diego Milito, at 13/2 with Samuel Eto`o 7/1 to do the honours against his former club. The man he was traded for, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is available at 11/2.

Neither side will want to concede an early goal tonight and the teams may begin the game cautiously as they feel each other out. Barcelona are 10/3 with Coral to lead tonight at both half-time and full-time and 5/1 with William Hill to win the match after drawing at half-time. The bookmakers offer 4/1 that both halves end in a draw and Inter are 5/1 to be in front at both the interval and the final whistle. Draw/Inter is slightly longer, available at 6/1.

Many top sides have exited the Champions League early and the winner of this tie will face either Lyon or Bayern Munich in the final. Barcelona will surely fancy themselves to get past either one and Pep Guardiola`s team are now odds-on favourites at 4/5 to win the competition this season. Inter are not given nearly as good a chance but are still the next most likely team, priced at 9/2.

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