Champions League Best Bets #2: League Phase Round 2 (Sep. 30, 2025 - Oct. 1, 2025):

Aaron Bainbridge
Sep 29
5 min read

Updated: Oct 1

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.

Recap:

It’s good to be back! The UEFA Champions League delivered some must-watch soccer in the opening round of the League Phase, including a 4-4 draw between Dortmund and Juventus, another late Liverpool goal to win 3-2 against Atlético Madrid, a 4-0 thrashing of Atalanta at the hands of defending champions, PSG, and a 2-0 win for Manchester City against Kevin De Bruyne’s new club, Napoli.

And we’re only getting started!

We had a successful week for betting as well with a clean 3-0 sweep. We successfully backed Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and Barcelona.

Upcoming Matches:

We have a more traditional round of fixtures this week, played across Tuesday and Wednesday, with Europa League and Conference League matches on Thursday.

Notable Tuesday matches include Real Madrid traveling to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty, Galatasaray hosting Liverpool, and a rematch of the Europa League Semi-Final as Tottenham travel to the arctic circle to face Bodø/Glimt.

Ok Wednesday, the big match of the day is a matchup between the two teams many neutrals wanted to see in the final last year, Barcelona hosting PSG.

Let’s get to the bets:

Best Bets:

Pick #1: 2-Leg Parlay: Real Madrid Moneyline and Chelsea Moneyline -125 (Sep. 30, 2025; 12:45 p.m. EST and Sep. 30, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST ):

For our first Best Bet, I’m taking a 2-Leg Parlay, though the focus of this bet is primarily on Chelsea, rather than Real Madrid.

Madrid is added to this parlay to boost the value, as they take on newcomers Kairat Almaty. While Real Madrid will have to travel almost 4,000 miles for this match, this is still a match between a favorite to win the whole thing and a favorite to finish last in the group stage. Madrid fans will consider it a failure if they don’t win this match easily, especially after losing the Madrid Derby at the weekend, so I expect a comfortable win, as the line for this match suggests.

The real bet here is Chelsea, who host Benfica as Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are in a rough patch on paper if you look at their last 5 matches in all competitions. They let Brentford equalize late in an EPL match, then lost 1-3 to Bayern Munich in the UCL, then have lost their 2 EPL matches thereafter.

However, their last 2 EPL matches each saw a player sent off for a red card, dramatically altering the flow of the match.

The biggest concern is Cole Palmer’s absence, while he recovers from a groin injury.

Benfica, on the other hand, have not been great generally over the last year or so. They lost in the Round of 16 stage to Barcelona in last season’s UCL, then finished 2nd in the Portuguese League to rivals Sporting CP for the 2nd year in a row.

More recently, they sit 3rd in the Portuguese League due to a couple of draws. They also squandered a 2-goal lead to Qarabag FK in the UCL, resulting in a managerial change, bringing in Mourinho.

Additionally, these clubs played one another over the summer in the Club World Cup, where Chelsea knocked them out in the Round of 16 before going on to win the whole thing, though I’m not putting too much stock into that result.

Just want to place Chelsea? Try Chelsea Moneyline and Over 1.5 Total Goals -105.

Pick #2: Tottenham Hotspur Moneyline +115 (Sep. 30, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST):

For my next bet, I’m looking at the rematch of last year’s Europa League Semi-Final between Tottenham Hotspur and Bodø/Glimt.

Admittedly, I am a Spurs supporter, though I like this bet with my head as well as my heart.

Spurs have had a solid start to the season under new coach Thomas Frank. They sit 4th in the EPL, with 3 clean sheets, and got a win and clean sheet in their opening UCL match at home to Villarreal.

Spurs are healthy in defense, an area they struggled in last season, and have improved their set piece play, both attacking and defending. New signing Palhinha has looked incredible, while attacking players Kudus and Simons are playing well, even if the goals aren’t falling for them yet.

Spurs had a disappointing draw at the weekend to last-place Wolves in the EPL, though Palhinha salvaged a point with a late equalizer.

Bodø/Glimt are a strong Norwegian side, sitting 2nd in the Eliteserien with a game in hand. They rescued a point in their opening UCL match to Slavia Prague.

The wild part about Bodø/Glimt is that they play in northern Norway, within the arctic circle. Due to the climate, they play on turf, which can be difficult for some players and provides a home-field advantage to Bodø/Glimt. However, the weather in Bodø looks comfortable for this match, likely in the 50 degrees Fahrenheit range.

Further, Spurs played Bodø/Glimt twice last season in the Europa League Semi-Final, once home and once away. They won both matches, beating Bodø/Glimt 0-2 on their trip to the arctic circle.

A final factor I’m considering is fixture fatigue. Bodø/Glimt are halfway through their domestic campaign, while also having had to play through the UCL qualification rounds. While they’ll get more rest this weekend than Spurs did, they’ve played quite a few more matches than this Spurs side have this season.

Pick #3: Napoli Moneyline -115 (Oct. 1, 2025; 3:00 p.m. EST):

For my final bet, I’m fading another Portuguese team as Napoli host Sporting CP.

Sporting currently sit 2nd in the Portuguese League, a point behind Porto, though Porto have a game in hand.

The Portuguese League can be tough to gauge, as there is a relatively large disparity between the top 3 clubs and most of the rest of the league.

Sporting lost to Porto in the Portuguese League, their toughest match of the domestic season thus far. They did win their opening UCL match, though that was against Kairat Almaty, who traveled over 4,000 miles to play that match.

Napoli have had a strong start to the Serie A season, winning 4 and losing 1. Their only loss came this weekend to AC Milan at the San Siro (Milan).

They lost their opening UCL match as well, losing 2-0 away at Manchester City. Outside of those two losses, they’ve won the rest of their matches and kept 2 clean sheets.

While Lukaku is still sidelined, Napoli are relying on Scott McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne in midfield, with ex-Manchester United player Rasmus Højlund leading the attack.

While Højlund is still finding his scoring boots, McTominay was a revelation for Napoli last season after leaving Manchester United and Kevin De Bruyne has looked phenomenal in his few matches for Napoli since leaving Manchester City.

Against lesser-quality opponents, Napoli are finding a way to win, while Sporting are someone the same. However, I feel like the strength and depth of Napoli is greater than that of Sporting, while Napoli also have the luxury of playing at home.

Bonus:

I can’t seem to stop looking at the Villarreal v Juventus matchup, as I like the line for Juve. I’ll be taking Juventus to Win Either Half +105, Juventus to Win or Draw -160, and will dabble on Juventus Moneyline +220.