Champions League Best Bets #1: League Phase Round 1 (Sep. 16, 2025 - Sep. 18, 2025):

Aaron Bainbridge
Sep 15
5 min read

Updated: Sep 19

Welcome in to Champions League Best Bets, brought to you by Bettor In Green, where we recap the latest Champions League action and look ahead with my favorite bets for the upcoming matches.

Preview:

The UEFA Champions League returns! The pinnacle of Club Soccer, the Champions League pits the best European clubs against one another to determine the Champion of Europe.

Last year, we saw the inaugural season of the new-look UCL, where they ditched the traditional “group stage” and have introduced a “League Phase.” Personally, I thought the change led to exciting matches throughout the tournament and I enjoyed each stage.

A few clubs had to play UCL qualifier matches to earn a spot in the tournament. Notable clubs to make it through are Benfica, Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan, Pafos FC from Cyprus, and one of last season’s Europa League darlings, Bodø/Glimt from Norway.

Notable clubs to crash out were Fenerbahçe, Red Star Belgrade, and both Scottish giants, Celtic and Rangers.

Will PSG win it all again this year? There’s only one way to find out!

Upcoming Matches:

The first round of the League Phase brings us 3 days of exciting matches, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The next round will resume the ordinary schedule of Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Europa League and Conference League matches taking place on Thursday.

Exciting matches this week include Juventus hosting Dortmund, Bayern Munich hosting Chelsea, and Manchester City hosting Napoli.

Let’s get to the bets:

Best Bets:

Pick #1: Arsenal Moneyline -110 (Sep. 16, 2025; 12:45 p.m. EST):

For our first Best Bet, I’m backing Arsenal to get the win on the road against Athletic Bilbao.

Admittedly, I follow the Premier League and English clubs closer than any other league, but I quite like the value in taking Arsenal at this line, despite being away.

Arsenal are off to a strong start in the EPL, sitting in 2nd place. They’ve won 3 of 4 matches, with their only loss being a 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield.

What’s more impressive is that they’ve kept clean sheets in each of their other 3 matches, scoring 9 total goals in those matches. They have injuries to key players (Saka, Ødegaard, and Saliba), but also now have greater depth than last season to handle the absences.

Athletic Club are also 3-0-1, having won their opening 3 matches of the season. However, they lost Nico Williams to injury prior to their most recent match, a 0-1 loss at home to Deportivo Alaves. This makes 2 losses in a row, including their friendly against Osasuna.

These clubs met in a preseason friendly, with Arsenal winning 3-0 at home. While that was a friendly, both clubs played strong lineups. I expect another win here from Arsenal, potentially with another clean sheet as well.

Pick #2: Tottenham Hotspur Moneyline -115 (Sep. 16, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST):

From one North London club to the other, I’m next backing last season’s Europa League winners, Tottenham Hotspur, to get the win against another Spanish team, Villarreal.

Spurs are coming off of a solid win and strong performance against West Ham, winning 0-3 on the road.

Like Arsenal, Spurs are 3-0-1 for the season and sit 3rd in the table. They also have 3 clean sheets, scoring 8 and only conceding once this season. New coach Thomas Frank has prioritized stronger defensive structure than his predecessor and has emphasized both attacking and defending against set pieces, an area where Spurs struggled last season.

Villarreal had a strong transfer window, bringing in the likes of Tajon Buchanan on a permanent deal, Georges Mikautadze from Lyon, Tani Oluwaseyi after his excellent spell with Minnesota United, and recently bringing in Manor Solomon on loan from Spurs themselves. They’ll need some of their new players with Gerard Moreno out injured.

While Villarreal currently sit 5th in La Liga, their home form has been impressive, with their away form leaving more to be desired. They’re coming off a 2-0 defeat on the road to Atlético Madrid, giving Atlético their first win of the season.

With Spurs off to a flying start in the EPL and Villarreal struggling so far away from home, I’m backing Spurs to get the win outright and start their UCL campaign with a bang.

Pick #3: Barcelona Moneyline +110 (Sep. 18, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST):

For my final bet, I’m again looking at a matchup between a Premier League club and a La Liga club, but this time I’m backing the La Liga giants, Barcelona, to get the win over Newcastle.

Newcastle are the hosts for this match, which can historically be a tricky venue. However, Barcelona under Hansi Flick have been so dominant, I’m not anticipating the environment impacting them much.

Barcelona sit 2nd in La Liga, only behind Real Madrid, with a record of 3-1-0. They have a +10 goal differential, the highest in La Liga.

Barcelona under Hansi Flick utilize a high defensive line, often catching their opposition offside. This can leave them vulnerable to long balls and a quick run in behind the line, but also can successfully employ the offside trap.

Where Barça really shine is in their attack. They scored 102 goals in La Liga last season, 24 more than their closest opposition. They also scored the most goals in the UCL League Phase last year.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have struggled in the EPL this season. Their transfer window was shambolic, without a sporting director to pull strings. The primary story was what would happen with star striker, Alexander Isak, who ended up getting his desired move to Liverpool. They only have one EPL win this season, a 1-0 win at the weekend to last-place Wolves.

To replace him, Newcastle brought in Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart and Yoanne Wissa from Brentford. With Wissa injured, Woltemade should be the main man in attack.

Woltemade’s style of play is more possession based, with him apt to drop into midfield to receive the ball, then drive at the opposition with pace. Despite being tall, winning aerial duels is a weakness of his. His strengths are not well suited to unlock this Barcelona team.

UPDATE: this line has jumped to +170 as the week has progressed and with the news that Lamine Yamal won’t play and that Barça will make some changes to their starting 11. I was already counting on Yamal being out, as news broke last week that he was playing through injury on international break. Barça still have plenty of quality to get the win, so I still like it at the +170 line, though the line movement does make me a bit nervous.