WhatIf - Sport prediction and betting tips

Tuesday 11. April 2017

Champions League

Dortmund - Monaco

Dortmund -  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is often picked as the key man, but he may never be more key than he is here.  Look at the lineup that they are likely to have.  Very few remain from the group that made the final.  There's no Gotze, Reus, or Lewandowski.  So the onus is going to be on Aubameyang.  He laid a real egg against Benfica in that first leg tie, and they were lucky to have skated away with very little trouble afterwards.  Now, they need to depend on him to take ALL of the chances that fall to him in this match.  It will be that important to them because Monaco have shown that they can and will take theirs when they come.

Monaco -  Without Bakayoko in the center, Monaco will likely have to turn to veteran Portuguese midfielder Joao Moutinho.  Moutinho is just 30, but he seems like he's old man river in this side here.  Moutinho will be very important in this match as he will have to set the tempo of the match.  He was one of the earliest big name signings for this Monaco side when they started flashing the cash, and he's stayed over as they have turned to youth.  As long as Moutinho is well protected, they should be fine going forward.  But if he is exposed to the quickness of Dortmund's attack, it could turn out to be a long night for the principality side.

Verdict - without their key players in game, outcome is extremely hard to predict, and game can go south in many ways after first half of  the game. With all that in mind, it would be best to bet on 1st half to be even, with score 0:0, even if bookies are predicting home win with 1.50 average, and Monaco 5.75, game could easily end in draw.

              - i am going for score on halftime 0:0, with 3.3 average odd.