This week is all about the key Champions League match in the race for the playoffs as Juventus host Benfica. Then we move to Melbourne for theAustralian Open with Janik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Champions League: Juventus - Benfica
- Start: Wednesday, 21 January 21 at 20:00
- Venue: Allianz Stadium, Turin
- Coverage: TNT Sports
- Fun fact: Benfica have a superb record away at Juventus over the years. They’ve played them away on four occasions, winning three of them and drawing the other.
Betting
Juventus and Benfica are by no means among the favourites to win this year’s Champions League. But these are two of Europe’s historic powerhouses, and both are multiple winners of the European Cup/Champions League, which is why this match carries significance.
Benfica have it all to do to qualify for the playoffs after losing their first four games. Juve aren’t doing much better, though their nine points to Benfica’s six could make all the difference. A defeat for Benfica here would mean it’s curtains for them.
A defeat here for Jose Mourinho’s Benfica is the likeliest of the three outcomes according to the bookies. The hosts are the 1.8 favourites to win the game, the draw is available at 3.5, and an upset in the form of victory for the visitors is chalked up at 4.33.
But bookies areless certain about whether this game will be high-scoring or not. Both over and under 2.5 goals are priced up at 1.85. It’s a somewhat similar story on the Both Teams to Sore market with YES just about favoured over NO, with the former 1.83 and the latter 1.9.
In other markets, 0-0 is 9.0 and 1-1 is 6.0. One price that catches the eye is the 1-0 home win at 6.5.
Proof that the bookies aren’t so sure this match will have goals is that no player is odds-on to score anytime.
Juve’s youngster Kenan Yildiz, who has been superb all season for the Turin outfit, is 2.7, the same price as their main striker, Jonathan David.
For Benfica, Greek international Vangelis Pavlidis is the best chance of a goal at odds of 3.0 to score anytime.
One man always worth keeping an eye on in this market is veteran Argentine defender and World Cup winner Nicolas Otamendi. He’s always a threat from set pieces and often saves his goals for the biggest occasions. He’s priced at 13.0 that he can get a goal at any time.
Men’s Australian Open Tennis
- Start: Already underway
- Venue: Melbourne Park, Australia
- Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event/Tennis
- Fun fact: Alongside the US Open, the Australian Open is played on hard courts. But that wasn’t always the case; up to 1988, it was played on grass, like Wimbledon.
Betting
The tournament is already underway, with the big names in the men’s draw having relatively easy first-round matches. We don’t expect there to be many changes to the outright winner market odds over the next day or so.
The man to beat is, unsurprisingly, Jannik Sinner, who is odds-on at 1.8 to add yet another Grand Slam title to his name.
The 24-year old Italian has already won three of the four Grand Slams. He was also a finalist at Roland Garros last year, and for good measure was part of the Italian team that won the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2024.
Next up is his big rival, Carlos Alcaraz, at 2.63. The Spaniard got the better of Sinner in one of the best French Open finals in memory last year and also added the US Open title to his CV in 2025. But the general consensus is that if Sinner is at his best level – both technically and physically – and they both make the final, it’s the Italian who has the upper hand.
There are interesting angles regarding the next three in the betting.
38-year-old Novak Djokovic is clearly past his best, but this is his most successful Slam by some margin. Of his 24 Slam singles titles, a men’s record, 10 of them were won here in Melbourne. What a story it would be if he made it 11. He’s 13.0 to do so.
Then there’s Daniil Medvedev at 17.0. He had a disastrous year in 2025 but there are signs he’s slowly getting back to his best, so it would be some comeback if he went all the way here in Australia.
Then there’s 29.0 chance for Alexander Zverev. Perhaps the best current player yet to win a Slam, he’s made three finals at three different Slams, including the Aussie Open last year. Is this the year that all changes?
Bet of the Week: Under 2.5 Goals in Juventus - Benfica
With so much at stake and with Jose Mourinho’s natural instinct to be cautious in the biggest games, goals might be at a premium in Juventus v Benfica, in what could be a real game of cat-and-mouse.
With that in mind, we much prefer under 2.5 goals to over 2.5 goals. 1.85 looks a pretty decent price in a game that could well end 0-0, or just 1-0 to either side.
