Fiorentina v Lyon: Betting Preview

Fiorentina v Lyon
Live on Sky Sports Xtra. Kick off 7.45pm

If the French and Italians can be trusted not to be mean to poor old Liverpool, they might produce a few goals on Tuesday evening, says Betfair’s Tobias Gourlay

Fiorentina will confirm their place in the Last 16 of the Champions League at Liverpool’s expense if they win at home to Lyon, who are already certain to be in the knockout stages for a seventh consecutive season. Lyon coach Claude Puel assured Liverpool after the sides played each other three weeks ago that his team would play fair and go for the win in Florence.

Both clubs have perfect records to protect at the Artemio Franchi on Tuesday evening. Fiorentina (2.14 Betfair) are seeking a third straight home success; while Lyon (4.1 Betfair) could gain a third victory on their travels in Group E. Puel has left Jeremy Toulalan out of his squad because of a groin injury, while Cesare Prandelli must do without Adrian Mutu.

No one has scored more than Fiorentina’s 11 goals in the group stages so far, but few teams will progress having conceded more than La Viola, who let in five goals over two games with Debrecen. Lyon’s attacking trident – Lisandro Lopez, Bafetimbi Gomis and Michel Bastos – is easily powerful enough to breach such a defence. With a little help from their teenage playmaker, Bosnia’s Miralem Pjanic, those three should keep up OL’s excellent record of having scored in 16/17 group-stage matches since 2004/05 (only Barcelona have stopped them in that time), if they are playing with full determination.

You can say No to the Fiorentina Clean Sheet at 1.54 (Betfair). If you fancy the recently free-scoring Italians to beat Hugo Lloris at least once, Both Teams to Score is available at 1.81 (Betfair), and should move closer to evens before kick-off. Bearing in mind that 13 of those 17 group-stage matches have gone Over 2.5 Goals, 2.28 (Betfair) looks a nice price for that outcome tomorrow night.

Fiorentina have been less regular participants in the Champions League, and there’s little in the history books to support or undermine the trend for goals in Lyon’s away games. Subjectively, it can be said that La Viola have some fine attacking players, even without Mutu – fullback Juan Manuel Vargas, who is coveted by Real Madrid, and Montenegro’s Stevan Jovetic are among them – who have it within themselves to make important contributions to an open game. An Over 2.5 Goals bet could also be used to cover a punt in the Correct Score market – after all, 1-1 (7.0 Betfair) would suit both teams just fine.

Recommended Bets: Back Over 2.5 Goals at 2.26 (Betfair); back Both Teams to Score at 1.81 (Betfair)

Reproduced with permission from betting.Betfair.com. © The Sporting Exchange Limited

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