Soccer Best Bets: Champions League & Premier League Insights

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid with the football season complete.

00:04It's time to get into some football with a U. Kyle Bond joins us now.

00:07It's been a while since we checked in with Kyle on the soccer pitch.

00:10We're going to go over some results in the Champions League, get some previews from the

00:13upcoming weekend in the Premier League as well. Kyle, great to have you back on Newswire,

00:16man. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, great to be back on.

00:20Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. It was a little hurt, a little hurt, but you know what?

00:23We're back. We're here. That's okay. Bygones are bygones.

00:27I mean, it's football. You know, football season is tough, man.

00:29And we got March Madness straight ahead. But speaking of madness,

00:32let's go over some of the Champions League results from Tuesday and Wednesday.

00:35And Kyle, let's start off with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Really,

00:39really good matchup here. What do you make of sort of the way that this is going down?

00:44Yeah, one of the one of the best matchups of the round of 16.

00:47I was actually really surprised at how clean the first leg was.

00:51These teams hate each other and it sparks a lot of fury

00:55and frustration on the pitch often. I was on the over for yellow cards in that first leg

01:00and they had won. So I'm a bit surprised at how subdued that first leg was both,

01:06you know, from a disciplinary standpoint and from a chances standpoint.

01:11Real Madrid won that game 2-1, but there weren't a ton of chances.

01:15That's kind of how Atletico Madrid like it is to keep a lid on the game both home and away.

01:21But this is still very much in the balance.

01:23Atletico Madrid are a much better team at home than they are on the road.

01:28Not as much this year,

01:29but if you go over the course of Diego Simeone's managerial tenure at Atletico Madrid,

01:35they have always played much better at home.

01:37So getting the second leg at home,

01:39I still like Atletico Madrid's chances to get through this one,

01:43especially where the odds are. They are heavy underdogs,

01:47especially given that Real Madrid won the first leg.

01:50You can get some really good value on Atletico Madrid getting a surprise here

01:55because Real Madrid are a flawed team this season.

01:57They always seem to have that European magic,

01:59but they're a flawed team this year and I really think Atletico Madrid have a chance.

02:04All right. So PSG-Liverpool,

02:06let's break this one down. Sort of a stunning result here as PSG. Seems like on paper,

02:11they should have been the winner of this one. How did Liverpool pull it out?

02:16Liverpool's luck this year is off the charts.

02:20Don't get me wrong. They're one of the best teams in Europe,

02:23if not the best team in Europe right now.

02:25But the breaks that have gone their way this season are incredible.

02:31They got outshot in this game 27-2

02:36and PSG could not put the ball in the back of the net.

02:38You have to give a lot of credit to Alisson, Liverpool's goalkeeper,

02:41who made nine incredible saves. He was outstanding.

02:44He called it the best performance of his career,

02:46but PSG just blew it here

02:49and I just can't see them winning at Anfield

02:53and reversing this tie, reversing this scoreline.

02:57I think they've blown their opportunity.

03:00They dominated those 90 minutes

03:02and then got starstruck at the end by a cheap counter-attack goal.

03:08It never should have gone this way. PSG are a very good team.

03:11Ousmane Dembele is maybe top three for the Ballon d'Or this year.

03:15I don't think many people realize that,

03:17but they've blown their chance. I think Liverpool will go through here.

03:21All right, so Liverpool will take them on and see how far they can go.

03:24By the way, they've been fantastic. If you take a look at all of their wins,

03:28I mean 4-0, 2-0, 2-0 against Man City, 2-0 again,

03:33and then that 1-0 against PSG.

03:36And when you look at this matchup coming up on Tuesday,

03:39as you mentioned, is there any position to take here

03:42because it basically is even money to take Liverpool to win?

03:45Yeah, I was wanting to be on the under in the first leg

03:51and I couldn't do it. I couldn't pull the trigger

03:54and I wish I had because I think you go under again here on the goals total.

03:59I think Liverpool are just so good defensively.

04:02Obviously, you've got the performance that Alassane put in in the first leg.

04:06They got battered in that first leg and didn't concede.

04:09I find it hard to see how they don't keep a lid on this game in the second leg as well

04:16and just sort of see it out. I think PSG will throw all they've got at it,

04:19but we've seen earlier this year that PSG don't finish well.

04:23They were in trouble in the first half of the Champions League league phase

04:27down at the bottom of the table because they couldn't finish chances.

04:30They were one of the best attacking teams in the league phase

04:32and through the first half, they just really struggled to put the ball in the net.

04:35So I think Liverpool just lean on their defensive prowess here

04:39and maybe you get like a 1-1 draw,

04:42but there's a number of ways that this can go under that two and a half goal total

04:46and you'll probably get a pretty good number on it.

04:49All right, fair enough. Let's have it over to the Premier League

04:51and you know, certainly Liverpool's had their way this season,

04:54but one of the big matchups coming up is on Sunday between Manchester United and Arsenal.

05:00Do you have any position in this upcoming matchup?

05:04Yeah, I also like the under here.

05:07I've been playing unders a little bit this season

05:09because a lot of the totals have been inflated just because,

05:16you know, attacking football is what everybody loves to see.

05:19Everybody wants to play overs and the number of goals

05:22and games overall has been increasing.

05:26But if you can get a couple of big-name teams playing each other at a high total,

05:33you can play the unders and I think this is a good spot for it.

05:37You know, Manchester United just don't have a very good attack.

05:39Arsenal put seven past PSG midweek in the Champions League on like one and a half XG

05:46because the PSV goalkeeper had a nightmare.

05:48So I think that can inflate the market a little bit

05:52and Arsenal don't have a striker.

05:54So I think you play the under in two teams that struggle to put the ball in the net.

06:01All right, and then one more matchup here this weekend.

06:03Tottenham is playing and I know you have a position on that matchup as well.

06:08Yeah, this is one you can just whatever the number is go over

06:12because these are two teams that like to play chaos ball.

06:15They like to muck it up.

06:16Tottenham have a couple of players just coming back from injury along the back in defense,

06:21but Bournemouth can cause problems for just about anybody in the Premier League

06:26and I think you get goals.

06:29All right. Finally, I want to get here to the World Cup

06:31because it's coming fast here, Kyle, in 2026.

06:33I know Club World Cup is coming this summer, which should be a lot of fun.

06:37I want to show people the odds here because again,

06:40I think that this is going to be something that's very interesting to watch,

06:43especially considering Messi could be involved in this as well.

06:46So Man City is plus 390 and Real Madrid is plus 450.

06:50So are those fair to be the favorites there?

06:54You know, I've never shied away from taking a favorite, Craig.

06:57I think especially in futures, there's nothing wrong with it.

06:59Man City, I would stay miles away from Man City here.

07:03They've had a nightmare of a season.

07:05They're in total flux.

07:07I just don't think that they would be a team to pick here.

07:10They may bring some youth players as well.

07:12So I think Real Madrid could be a good play,

07:14but you could get some value down there below the top two.

07:18All right. Thanks, Kyle, for coming on.

07:19We'll follow you over at Sporting News.

07:22Thanks again.

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