Welcome in to Champions League Best Bets, brought to you by Bettor In Green, where we recap the latest Champions League action and look ahead with my favorite bets for the upcoming matches.
Recap:
The Champions League is back! After a 5-week hiatus, it feels good to have the UCL back in action.
In Round 6, Liverpool secured a win against Inter Milan thanks to a late penalty, Manchester City beat Real Madrid in Madrid, and Arsenal maintained their perfect record with a 0-3 win over Club Brugge.
The reigning Champions, PSG, couldn’t find a winner as they drew 0-0 with Athletic Club, and Benfica upset Napoli with a 2-0 win at home, giving them a chance to survive as we enter the final 2 matches of the League Phase.
We hit 2-1 for Best Bets, winning our Bayern Munich / Spurs parlay and with Newcastle to win either half, despite them drawing their match with Bayer Leverkusen. We lost on Napoli to win either half.
Upcoming Matches:
The marquee match for Round 7 is undoubtedly Inter Milan hosting Arsenal.
Other fun matches include Spurs hosting Dortmund, Galatasaray hosting Atlético Madrid, and Juventus hosting Benfica.
Let’s get to the bets:
Best Bets:
Pick #1: 2-Leg Parlay: Manchester City Moneyline and Barcelona Moneyline -122 (Jan. 20, 2026; 12:45 p.m. EST and Jan. 21, 2026; 3:00 p.m. EST):
For my first bet, I’m taking two away favorites to get the win as they travel to some notoriously difficult venues.
The logic for this bet is relatively simple, Manchester City and Barcelona are two European powerhouses. On paper, they are far superior to their opponents this week.
However, they are traveling to tricky venues, as Man City face Bodø/Glimt up in the arctic circle and Barcelona travel to face Slavia Prague.
While the weather up in Bodø is cold this time of year, the forecast only predicts it to be about 15 degrees colder than Manchester. The bigger factor is that Bodø/Glimt play on an artificial field.
However, Man City have incredible quality and depth, recently adding Semenyo and Guehi to their ranks from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, respectively. They just lost the Manchester Derby against Man United and will look to get back to winning ways and retain a top-8 spot.
Barcelona travel to Prague, which isn’t perhaps the most difficult away venue, though still is a fair bit of travel and an intense atmosphere. Slavia Prague are unbeaten in the Czech League, with an 8-2-0 record when at home.
However, they haven’t been a dominant force at home in the UCL this season and have yet to win at home, with 2 draws and a loss.
Barcelona were on an 11-match winning streak until this weekend when they lost to Real Sociedad. They still sit atop of La Liga and will be hungry to get back to winning. They’ll need this win if they hope to move into the top-8 and secure a bye in the next round.
Pick #2: PSG Moneyline -130 (Jan. 20, 2026; 3:00 p.m. EST):
Next, I’m backing another road team, this time the reigning champions, PSG.
PSG travel to Sporting CP for this round and will be looking for a win to help them remain in top-8, especially considering they play Newcastle in the final round, which could prove to be a difficult match.
I’ve been fading a few of the Portuguese teams this season, as both Sporting and Benfica have had some struggles in the UCL and domestically, with Porto leading the Portuguese League by a rather comfortable margin.
Sporting have struggled against some of the bigger teams, losing to Porto, drawing with Benfica and Juventus, and losing to Bayern Munich and Napoli. To their credit, they’ve won their 3 UCL home matches thus far, though this will be their biggest challenge yet, as they’ve played Kairst Almaty, Marseille, and Club Brugge this far at home in the UCL.
PSG had a disappointing draw last time out in the UCL against Athletic Club, though they were without Ballon d’Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé in that match and had Désiré Doué on the bench for most of that match. Both players are now fit and should start this match.
Dembélé is finding his best form again after being out with injury, having scored 5 goals and registered 1 assist in his last 5 matches.
The Champions look like they’re back to their best and I expect a dominant performance to remain in pole-position to secure a bye for the next round.
Pick #3: Napoli Moneyline -110 (Jan. 20, 2026; 3:00 p.m. EST):
I am drawn to the visiting teams this round, as I’m taking another road favorite for my final Best Bet, backing Napoli against FC Copenhagen.
An interesting wrinkle in this match is that FC Copenhagen is in the middle of a long winter break for the Danish Superliga. They played their last competitive match on December 13, 2025, then have only played two friendlies thus far this year to prepare for their UCL match.
In each of those friendlies (against Brann from Norway and Sturm Graz from Austria), Copenhagen had only managed a draw, with a 4-4 draw in Austria most recently.
While this may give them some extra time to rest and prepare for Napoli, who have played 5 competitive matches so far this year, I’ll always back the team getting competitive play and experience.
Napoli are currently on an 8-match unbeaten run and, while they’re still without De Bruyne, Scott McTominay has remained impressive in midfield, with 3 goals in his last 5 matches, including 2 against Inter in a 2-2 draw.
Each club is at risk of not advancing, sitting at 23rd and 24th in the table, with only the top 24 advancing. However, I think there is great value in this bet, as I Napoli are a stronger team and will have a greater match-fitness than Copenhagen.
Season Record:
League Phase: 11-7
