The fortieth edition of ‘Round the Sports World in five minutes' talks you through all you need to know ahead of the glamour tie of the round in the Champions League, the Players Championship at Sawgrass, and a quick heads-up of where you can find what you need as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway.
The Cheltenham Festival
- Start: 10-13 March
- Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham
- Live coverage: ITV
We have to mention this one as it’s the biggest national hunt racing festival in the world.
Four days of world-class racing, 28 races, endless betting opportunities, one of the greatest spectacles in world sport. Cheltenham schedule is packed with betting opportunities, and we've got exclusive betting offers to boot:
Real Madrid - Manchester City
- Start: Wednesday 20;00
- Venue: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
- Coverage: TNT Sports 1 in the UK
- Fun fact: Real Madrid and Manchester City are certainly no strangers in this competition. This is the fifth season in a row in which those two sides will be meeting in the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Betting
You could make a case for several matches in this round of the Champions League as the one to look out for.
But for most, the tie of the round, at least on the glamour stakes, is Real Madrid v Manchester City, with the first leg played on Wednesday night.
City are 8.5 to go all the way this year, with Real a surprisingly big price at 12 to win it. Surprising because they have, after all, won two of the last four editions of it, and if you want to go back further, six of the last 12! City, of course, won this competition in 2022-3 so you can see why this is European football royalty up against each other here.
And those Real wins were before they even had Kylian Mbappe, arguably the best player in the world right now. And the lightning-quick French goal machine is as good a place as any to start when it comes to this match.
That’s because there’s a very good chance that he will miss the match entirely as he continues to recover from a knee injury, with the best scenario for Real being a place on the bench.
If he’s not in the starting line-up, that’s a huge boost for City right there, with attacking left-back Alvaro Carreras also likely to miss out after picking up a muscle injury.
Much will therefore depend on Vinicius Jr. Therefore, he’s more than capable, after being the difference between the sides when Real Madrid knocked out Benfica, scoring in both legs. The Brazilian is 7.0 to open the scoring and 2.8 to score anytime.
City have their own injury problems with defensive pair Josko Gvardiol and Rico Lewis, who are definitely ruled out, while midfielders Savinho and Mateo Kovacic are also out injured.
But the million-dollar question for them is whether their own superstar, Erling Haaland, is 100% fit. The Norwegian has missed City’s last three games with an injury of his own, but by all accounts, he has a far better chance of playing a part in this match than Mbappe does.
But if Real have a player who can step up in Vinicius, then City also have one in Antoine Semenyo. Playing in a number of different positions in attack, he’s been brilliant since joining from Bournemouth in January and has seven goals in 13 appearances for his new club so far, also contributing with assists and top-class dribbling. He’s 2.7 to score and a more unlikely 10.0 to score twice, something he hasn’t done for City yet.
On the main markets, Real are 3.1 to win, City 1.91 and the draw is 3.3. You can back both teams to score at 1.5, over 3.5 goals at 2.38, and a penalty to be taken in the match at 2.4.
Players Championship Golf
- Start: Thursday, March 12, race
- Venue: TPC Sawgrass, Florida
- Coverage: Sky Sports Golf
- Fun fact: Because the course tests all aspects of a player’s game, the tournament has produced surprise winners at large odds, making it popular with bettors looking for value picks. Bear that in mind if you’re having a bet because a 50.0 chance isn’t out of the equation by any means.
Betting
If you’re a bit new to golf betting, the Players Championship is often known as the ‘fifth Major, so not officially one like the US Masters, but rather, an honorary one!
But what it may lack in its official status, it’s certainly not lacking in ranking points, prize money, prestige and in terms of having (almost all) the very best players in the world featuring in it.
Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Aberg, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Young… We could be here all day. The only ones missing are those who play on the ‘other Tour’, LIV Golf, who aren’t eligible, of which Jon Rahm is the best-known.
Sawgrass has what is arguably the best-known golf hole in the whole world: the 17th is an island hole, meaning it's surrounded by water.
So many balls end up in the water on the 17th that one betting company is offering just 3.3 that 60 or more of them land in ‘the drink’, though strangely, get your iron shot off the tee spot on at 17 and you’ve got a chance of a ‘hole in one’.
That’s why Bet365 is going just 1.66 that there will be a hole-in-one at the tournament, though it’s not just this one hole that it applies to, it’s any of them.
The Top 2 in the betting are the usual two who have occupied the Number 1 and 2 spots in the world rankings for a while now: Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
Scottie Scheffler is between 4.5 and 5.0, depending on who you’re betting with, but that looks a little on the short side.
Yes, he won it here in both 2023 and 2024, the first golfer to win this back-to-back, but he hasn’t quite been at his best of late. He may have won the American Express in late January and followed that up with third and fourth-placed finishes, but he was ‘just’ tied 12th and tied 24th in the last two weeks. Excellent results by a ‘mortal’s’ standards, but not by his. Besides, he has to beat the cream of the golfing world here.
That includes last week’s winner, Akshat Bhatia (40,0), who played beautifully on the back nine, Morikawa (20.0), who has been in extremely consistent form all season, and Rory McIlroy (13.0), who is the defending champion here at Sawgrass.
But McIlroy has bigger problems than a couple of disappointing finishes like Scheffler; he had to pull out of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational with back spasms, though he should be okay for this one. That’s part of the reason why he pulled out, anyway.
Bet of the Week: Vinicius Jr to Score Anytime in Real Madrid - Manchester City
Our bet on Matt Henry in the New Zealand v South Africa match last week was a three-way dead heat, so that ensured a profit, and this week we’re going with a football one.
Vinicius is likely to have to make up for the likely absence of Mbappe almost by himself, but he’s done it before and should see most of the chances created for him rather than the former PSG man. He’s also likely to be on penalty duty, so that’s a further reason to back him to score a goal at 2.8.
