Weekend Review: European giants find footing on Champions League return
Layers lament tough weekend as Barcelona and Bayern Munich show class is permanent on continental club competition return
A bettor-friendly set of Champions League and Europa League results left bookies feeling deflated following the return of the competitions following their Covid-19-enforced postponement.
Victories for the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United were heavily backed by punters, with Lyon’s aggregate triumph over Italian champions Juventus marking the only major upset.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “A very tough Saturday in the Champions League for us as both European power houses Barcelona and Bayern Munich dispatched of their opposition, as expected and very well backed.”
“They were by some distance both our biggest turnover events and biggest losing events of the weekend, with Barcelona’s defeat of Napoli top of both lists,” he added.
Good morning, quarterfinalists! 😍#MissionLis6on #MiaSanMia #FCBayern pic.twitter.com/CEA5Q7wCup
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) August 9, 2020
Betfred’s Alan Firkins said the betting levels were looking “normal” following the resumption of the competitions.
Firkins said: “Business levels were encouragingly very good for the resumption of European competition – up there with ‘normal’ times.
“As for the Champions League, Manchester City are unsurprisingly a big loser in the outright winner market, but anyone outside of them and Bayern Munich would be a very good result for Betfred,” he added.
Elsewhere, in cricket, England secured a first test victory over Pakistan by three wickets in Manchester which saw “patriotic” backers walk away happy, according to Gill.
Gill said: “England pulled off a bit of a shock in winning their test match against Pakistan in the cricket at Old Trafford. There was a bit of juice in the price for an England win going into the last innings, so that one cost us a bit, especially with patriotic Brits backing their team.”
The first successful run chase at Old Trafford since 2008!
Get in lads 😍 pic.twitter.com/1UW6jdIErw
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 8, 2020
William Hill’s Rupert Adams told EGR Intel it was a “great weekend” across multiple sports as the bookie came out on top.
Lewis Hamilton’s second place finish in F1’s 70th anniversary Grand Prix, combined with Celtic’s failure to win and high turnover across horseracing on Sunday were all major positives for Hills.
Adams said: “A great weekend on the sport front. Hamilton finally got beaten in the F1, Celtic drew 1-1 and racing was busy, plus the fact that Sunday was was on ITV3 helped turnover.”