Atalanta v PSG Betting Tips: Neymar and Co to reach the semi-finals?
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The pressure is on the French champions to reach the semi final of the Champions League on Wednesday night when they take on this season’s surprise package Atalanta in Lisbon.
Paris Saint-Germain will be hoping to reach the last four of the competition for the first time in twenty-five years as Thomas Tuchel aims to make history with the Parisians, a team who have often flattered to deceive in recent European campaigns.
Meanwhile, Atalanta will be full of confidence and relish the underdog tag having become a competitive side in Sere A playing an exciting brand of football in their debut Champions League season.
The action kicks off at 20:00pm on BT Sport at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon and we’ve got all the pre-match odds and build up right here….
Match Odds
PSG will kick-off as 20/23 favourites to win the tie in normal time, whereas they are 4/9 to reach the semi-final stage.
The Ligue 1 club have never beaten Italian opposition in the Champions League, losing four of their previous six meetings. Atalanta are 27/10 to win and 31/20 to qualify.
Both sides have been regular scorers in the competition this season with both teams to score and over 2.5 goals 8/11. PSG have scored in each of their last 32 matches in the competition, whereas Atalanta have scored eight goals in their last two knockout games.
A draw is 14/5, meaning extra-time and penalties could be required if both teams cannot be separated. Both sides are 12/1 to win the tie by a penalty shootout.
Talking tactics
The big news is that it looks increasingly likely that Paris Saint-Germain will have to navigate their way to the semi-final without Kylian Mbappe, despite the Frenchman having trained this week.
Tuchel will also be without the suspended Angel Di María and will have to reshuffle the pack with injuries to both Marco Verratti and Layvin Kurzawa.
All eyes will be on Neymar to deliver for the French champions and fill the potential void left by Mbappe in attack alongside Mauro Icardi.
For Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini is set to be without top-scorer Josip Ilicic who remains back home in his native Slovenia. His absence is a major blow to the Italian side’s quarter-final hopes.
Apart from Ilicic, La Dea have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the match in Lisbon and are set to stick with their high-pressing 3-5-2 setup which has provided plenty of goals at both ends of the pitch.
Goalscorer Odds
Plenty are expecting an open game at Estadio da Luz and Duvan Zapata will be tasked with filling the void left by Ilicic who had score five of their last seven goals in the competiton.
Zapata is 13/8 to score anytime for the Italians with Luis Muriel 11/2 to break the deadlock in Lisbon. Hans Hateboer scored twice in the Round of 16 first leg against Valencia, he is 11/1 to score anytime.
For PSG, Neymar has scored twelve goals in his last sixteen Champions League knockout games. The Brazilian is 7/2 to score first and 6/1 to score two or more goals in the match.
If Mbappe does return from injury, he is 21/20 to score anytime with Icardi also 13/10 to score during the 90 minutes.
Match info
Where: Estadio da Luz, Lisbon
When: 20:00pm, Wednesday 12th August
How to watch: BT Sport 1
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
