Dortmund battle it out with Monaco in Champions League quarters

Published on April 8th, 2017 3:20 pm EST
Written By: Cian Murray
When discussing 'dark horse' picks for the Champions League, two names normally pop up - Borusia Dortmund and Monaco.

Both have performed admirably well in Europe in recent seasons, but their performances have often been overshadowed by the other, more successful teams from their country.

Dortmund often play second fiddle to Bayern, while most fans think of PSG when asked 'who is the best team in France?'

This assessment is a little unfair on two sides who can defeat any team on any given day and both Dortmund and Monaco will be keen to prove themselves further by lifting this season's trophy.

However one of them will have their hopes dashed at the quarter-final stage. Dortmund host their Ligue Un counterparts in the opening leg and will be hoping to bring a healthy lead with them to the French riviera for the return fixture.

When looking at potential results, we would advise you to avoid the 16/1 0-0 scoreline. These two teams love to attack and have amassed an amazing 223 goals between them this season.

Dortmund manager, Thomas Tuchel, emphasized his side's attacking emphasis in a recent interview with UEFA. He said: "I want everyone who comes to the stadium to enjoy watching us because we play attacking football and outscore our opponents."

From those comments, it is easy to see why we will be putting a few quid on both teams to score at a price of 4/9.

Dortmund took out Benfica on a 4-1 scoreline in the last round. They hammered the Portuguese side 4-0 in the home leg, so if you fancy a repeat of this, you can back the Germans to win the opening tie by that scoreline at a price of 25/1.

If you're not feeling that adventurous, you may want to back Dortmund just to win. This is priced at the unattractive price of 8/13.

Monaco got past Manchester City in an amazing two-legged thriller in the last round. It finished 6-6 overall, with the Ligue Un side going through on away goals.

If you fancy them to get the win in Germany, you can back a Monaco win at 7/2, while the draw is 10/3. Falcao was in serious form in both of those games and the striker is 11/2 to open the scoring here.

Gabon forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, is never too far away from the goals and he leads the scoring markets for Dortmund. He is priced at 11/4 to find the net first.

Dortmund have been scoring for fun in this competition, netting eight at home against Legia Warsaw and four against Benfica. They also scored two in both games against the mighty Real Madrid.

Thus, our money is on them to outscore Monaco and come away with the win.