Bayern Munich have started the season in tremendous form and are heavily favoured to brush Lille aside with the minimum of fuss on Wednesday.
The Bundesliga leaders entertain the visitors in Bavaria and Bayern currently sit joint top with BATE Borisov and Valencia in the group standings.
Lille, in contrast, have lost each of their opening three fixtures but they have shown signs of improvement of late and I’m not totally writing off the away team just team.
Bayern, losing finalists to Chelsea at the Allianz Arena in May, started their current Champions League campaign with a narrow 2-1 win over Valencia but that was followed by a shock 3-1 defeat in Minsk.
Jupp Heynckes’ side got back on track with a 1-0 triumph in France over their upcoming opponents on matchday 3 but Bayern have not been as dominant in this competition as they have domestically and Lille look value to me on the handicaps.
The Ligue 1 side face an almost impossible task to qualify for the knockout stage but they are still a decent outfit and might just fancy their chances of squeezing into the Europa League.
Not many positives can be taken from any of Lille’s efforts to date in the Champions League this term but it was only a Thomas Muller penalty that separated the sides a fortnight ago and they can be backed at nearly evens receiving a two-goal head start on the Asians.
Lille picked up four points away from home in three group matches last season and are certainly not complete no-hopers.
Three consecutive wins, including 2-0 at Evian last time out, suggests they might be slowly turning the corner and this is a team that was good enough to finish third in the French top flight last term.
I’m more than hopeful that Rudi Garcia’s team can find the net and if that’s the case then Bayern would need to net four times, at least, for stakes to be lost.
The Germans lost 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen ten days ago in front of their own fans and, while a repeat score line is unlikely, they might not have things all their own way.
2pts Back Lille (+2, Asian Handicap, vs. Bayern Munich) @ 1.91 (Bet Victor)