Lyon and Schalke both have strong cases for home wins
Published:Lyon will have to improve upon a poor record with teams from Portugal if they wish to retain their position at the head of Group B after the third round of Champions League fixtures.
Although they have never faced Benfica before, Lyon have only won twice in nine encounters with Portuguese opponents and both of these came in the 1996 UEFA Cup against little known Farense.
Lyon have won both of their opening two Group B games as they look to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League for the eighth season in succession.
They are 11/10 to beat Benfica and it they are to witness success they will be keen that Brazilian Michel Bastos continues his rich vein of form in front of goal.
He has scored three times in their two victories to date and is 7/1 to open the scoring against Benfica.
The visitors are 5/2 to beat Lyon and bounce back from their defeat at Schalke in their last outing in the competition.
Schalke are at home again in the other Group B encounter against a Hapoel Tel-Aviv side still waiting for their first point in this season’s Champions League.
The two have never met before and Schalke are preparing for their first ever game against Israeli opposition.
Schalke are 4/9 to beat Hapoel and in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar have one of the form strikers in world football.
The Dutchman has scored in all of Schalke’s last six games and he is 7/2 to score the first goal against Hapoel.
Hapoel’s away form in European competition is not the best as they lost three of their four fixtures on the road during last season’s Europa League, but they are 13/2 to beat Lyon.
Huntelaar to score first and Schalke to win 2-0 can be backed at 22/1 in the scorecast market. See the full Schalke vs Hapoel match betting odds market.
