Barcelona have stuttered a bit this season but past history suggests they should account for Napoli in the Champions League at Camp Nou. The Catalan giants have drawn away in the first leg of a European tie on 26 occasions, but eventually went on to progress in 21 of those encounters.
Chelsea face a mission impossible when visiting Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but we’re backing the Blues to at least salvage some pride. Frank Lampard’s men were crushed 3-0 in the first leg in London back in February but have continued to develop since returning from lockdown.
Juventus have work to do in Turin when trying to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their Champions League tie with Lyon. However, the Bianconeri showed enough in France to suggest they can get the job done against opponents who have looked fragile on the road at times.
Olympiakos performed with great credit during a 1-1 first-leg draw against Wolves in Greece after going down to 10 men with less than half an hour gone. Having knocked out Arsenal in the previous round via a 2-1 extra-time win in London, we feel they command plenty of respect at Molineux.
Rangers were outclassed by Leverkusen in the first leg of their Europa League tie at Ibrox but may salvage some pride in the return fixture. Steven Gerrard’s side have hit the ground running in the new Scottish season, whereas their opponents must overcome a month’s absence from competitive action.
Basel are holding all the aces against Eintracht Frankfurt after an impressive 3-0 away win in the first leg and can prevail again in Switzerland. The hosts are coming off a solid end to the Swiss season, whereas their opponents last featured in competitive action over a month ago.
Man Utd all but guaranteed themselves a place in the Europa League quarter-finals when beating LASK Linz 5-0 in Austria back in March. However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will still be keen to pick up a positive result in the return fixture ahead of travelling to Germany for the closing stages.
Inter Milan are rated a clear form choice to see off Getafe in Wednesday’s single-leg Europa League last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen. The Nerazzurri finished strongly to claim second place in Serie A, whereas their opponents laboured badly in La Liga after returning from lockdown.
Shakhtar are in pole position to reach the Europa League quarter-finals after beating Wolfsburg 2-1 in Germany, but we’re expecting a close second encounter. The visitors are unbeaten in nine straight away matches in this competition and have only ever lost on the road in England.
Istanbul Basaksehir looked much the better team when beating FC Copenhagen 1-0 in Turkey in the first leg of their Europa League tie. Having done well away from home during the group stage this term, we’re sticking with Okan Buruk’s side to confirm that superiority in Denmark.
Celtic have claimed six straight Scottish Premiership wins over Kilmarnock and are worthy favourites to extend that sequence at Rugby Park. However, Killie did at least manage to get on the scoresheet in all three meetings last term and are fancied to grab a consolation goal again here.
Celtic begin their quest for a 10th straight Scottish Premiership title by hosting Hamilton and a routine win is expected at Parkhead. The Hoops have come out on top in their last 12 head-to-head meetings with Sunday’s opponents, who finished second from bottom last term.
Atalanta and Inter Milan have been hard to split in recent years, with three of their last four Serie A encounters ending in stalemate. However, with Lazio hot on their heels, the pressure is on this time to go for a win that would secure second place behind Juventus in Italy’s top flight.
Juventus will no doubt be distracted by next Friday’s Champions League clash with Lyon when closing their Serie A campaign by entertaining Roma. However, bookies may have overreacted by making them underdogs for this contest, especially as the visitors are in Europa League action next week.