UEFA Champions League: Olympique Marseille v Inter Milan Odds and Betting Preview

MARSEILLIE, FRANCE - Tonight sees Olympique Marseille host Inter Milan in the Champions League last 16. The Stade Vélodrome is hardly an easy stadium to visit, as Marseille have proved in the past. One year ago Inter would have been comfortable favourites for a tie like this. Now they are underdogs at 11/4 (bet £4 get £15 back) with bet365. Their French opponents are given odds of 6/5 with BETFRED to take a lead into the second leg and the draw is priced up at 11/5 with Boylesports.

Claudio Ranieri will be hoping his side turn around their abysmal run of form and salvage something out of what could be a tricky away first leg. Febraury has not been kind to the Italian side; they have lost five out of their last six matches. If you compare this to their form over the new year period you get an idea of the utter capitulation going on. Ranieri led the team to an eight match winning streak but since then the side have slumped to seventh in Serie A. It seems their best chance of qualifyig for next year's competition is to get as far as the team can in this year's tournament. Talisman Wesley Sneijder has come under much criticism recently and Inter will hoping their midfield masetro can return to recent form and give his side the boost they need.

Marseille are currently fourth in Ligue 1 and look unlikely to compete for the domestic title. That said they are unbeaten in their last five games and lie just three points off a Champions League spot. Dider Deschamps will be hoping his players can do one better than last year; Marseille lost in this round last year to Manchester United. The French manager has come head to head with his Italian counterpart before. His Monaco side beat Ranieri's Chelsea in 2004 which was arguably the nail in the coffin as the infamous Jose Morinho took charge at the London club shortly after.

In the correct score market the favourite scoreline is a 1-0 home victory priced up at 5/1 with Coral. Following this are 1-1 and 0-0 draws priced up at 6/1 and 7/1 respectively, both with William Hill. The odds for Inter to snatch a useful 1-0 lead into the second leg are at 9/1 with bet365. No doubt some of Marseille's famously fanatical supporters will be hoping for more; a 3-1 win for example (emulating a great result for Napoli over Chelsea incidentally) is given odds of 20/1 with Ladbrokes.

The half-time/full-time market is predictably consistent with other markets. Marseille/Marseille is the favourite outcome at 11/5 with Paddy Power and the next most lilely result is a stalemate both at 45 and 90 minutes. This is priced up at 4/1 with bet365. If the match were to be exciting enought that Marseille squander a lead they took into half time and then go on to lose the tie is given odds of 55/1 with Coral.

Loic Remy heads up the first goalscorer market no doubt because his recent run of form. The striker has scored 24 goals in 50 appearances since he joined the club in 2010 and punters cna back him to break the deadlock at 5/1 with Paddy Power. His partner in crime André Ayew is close behind him at odds of 7/1 with Boylesports to be the first name on the scoresheet. For the visitors most hope rests with the physical Diego Milito. He is priced up at 11/2 with bet365 and is always in the mix for first goalscorer when he is on the pitch.

Finally, also considering the return leg, Internazionale are favourites to proceed to the next round. They are at 13/20 with Stan James to qualify whereas the French side are given odds of 7/4 with Paddy Power to make the quarter-finals.

The game kicks off tonight at 19.45.

Match Betting