iBet: Barcelona are struggling away from home

Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona, Champions League, kick off 7.45pm

Lay over 4.5 goals at 4.2 to 1 with Betfair

My betting instinct in any first leg of a two-legged tie is to go low on goals, and that applies even when Barcelona are in town. In fact the reining European Champions have been struggling a bit lately, especially away from home. Remarkably for such a talented team, Barcelona have managed to win only four of their 11 domestic games on their travels. They have scored only 18 times in the process (compared to 30 for Real Madrid) and their games away from the Camp Nou average under three goals. Their problems have been exacerbated in recent weeks by some injuries to key players. The manager left Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas on the bench at the weekend as they lost at Osasuna. Barcelona have not been beaten in Germany in their last seven visits (won four, drawn three) but the last team to beat them there were tonight’s opponents. Leverkusen have been struggling to score in front of their own fans with only 14 goals in ten games. They have to be mindful of Barcelona’s attacking threat and I would be surprised if they went gung ho.

Advices

There are a raft of lower division games in England tonight and Middlesbrough look a fair price at 2.04 with Betfair to beat a Nottingham Forest outfit that has won only one of its last 14 games in all competitions and scored only five times in the process.

Betfair gives you better value. To see how much more you can win go to www.betfair.com/betchecker

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