Tuesday's Champions League predictions: PSG can prevail in heavyweight clash

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Tuesday's group matches in the Uefa Champions League.

Borussia Dortmund v FC Copenhagen

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 5.45pm Tuesday

Best bet

Borussia Dortmund win to nil
1pt 13-8 Betfair, Power

Preview

Highflying Borussia Dortmund are adjusting impressively to life without Erling Haaland and can register a comfortable home victory over Copenhagen.

Replacing Haaland was always going to be impossible but Dortmund have gone about things a different way by tightening up at the back.

The signings of German international defenders Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Sule have helped Dortmund to rack up three clean sheets in five league games.

Last season it took Dortmund 22 matches to register three Bundesliga shutouts, but there has been a massive change and their defensive improvement can continue against Copenhagen, who may struggle to get on the scoresheet.

Copenhagen squeezed through their playoff round tie against Trabzonspor 2-1 on aggregate, but they have lost four of eight Danish league fixtures and could be out of the depth in the group stage.

Benfica v Maccabi Haifa

Where to watch

BT Sport 8, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Benfica and over 2.5 goals
2pts 4-6 BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Preview

Benfica were quarter-finalists in last season's Champions League and can start their 2022-23 challenge with a home win over Maccabi Haifa.

Reaching the Champions League group stage was an achievement in itself for Maccabi, who got past Olympiakos, Apollon Limassol and Red Star Belgrade.

Maccabi dominated in Israel last season – winning the title by eight points – and have started the new season with three league wins.

However, they have not featured in the Champions League group stage since 2009, when they lost all six games without scoring a goal, and their Uefa coefficient (7.00) is by far the lowest of the 32 teams.

Maccabi are an attack-minded team (they netted 14 goals in six qualifying games) and could score in Lisbon, but they will be severely stretched defensively and appear likely to suffer a high-scoring defeat.

RB Salzburg v Milan

Where to watch

BT Sport 6, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Both teams to score
1pt 4-6 Hills

Preview

RB Salzburg scored in seven of eight Champions League matches during last season's run to the round of 16 and they could be involved in a high-scoring Group E opener at home to Milan.

Attack is often the best form of defence for Salzburg, who are featuring in a fourth successive group-stage campaign.

The Austrians are used to losing big players and the summer transfer window was no different with right back Rasmus Kristensen and attacking midfielder Brenden Aaronson joining Leeds and star striker Karim Adeyemi moving to Borussia Dortmund.

However, they have impressed in this season's Austrian Bundesliga, winning six of seven games and scoring 18 goals.

Matching last term's run to the knockouts will be tough though, because Milan and Chelsea are the powerhouse teams in the section.

Milan will expect to take something on matchday one, but a clean sheet may elude them.

RB Leipzig v Shakhtar Donetsk

Where to watch

BT Sport 7, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Leipzig win to nil
1pt 11-10 general

Preview

Shakhtar Donetsk qualified automatically for the Champions League group stage but they have had to absorb the losses of several key players and may struggle to compete in Group F, starting with their trip to RB Leipzig.

Domestic football has restarted in Ukraine and Shakhtar are second in the table with seven points from three games.

However, it would be unfair to expect much of them on the European stage, because their squad is considerably weaker than the one which collected just two points during last season's Champions League group stage.

Shakhtar used to recruit intelligently in the South American market, but they can no longer rely on foreign talent and look short of quality, particularly in attack.

RB Leipzig started slowly in Germany and were beaten 4-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but they should see off Shakhtar with the minimum of fuss.

Paris St-Germain v Juventus

Where to watch

BT Sport 4/BT Sport 5, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

PSG and under 3.5 goals
1pt 11-8 bet365, BoyleSports

Preview

Paris St-Germain's clash with Juventus is the glamour game on the opening night, but it could be a fairly one-sided affair with the hosts likely to ease to a routine victory.

Winning the Champions League is an obsession for PSG, who are hoping that new coach Christophe Galtier can get the best out of a talented squad.

PSG have recruited some talented young players and seem to be playing with a lot more energy and conviction than last season.

They lead Ligue 1 with 16 points from six games and the manner of their victories (each achieved by a minimum three-goal margin) has been hugely impressive.

Juventus could offer sterner resistance, but they may struggle to threaten much at the other end.

The Old Lady have netted just once in two Serie A away games and could go down to a low-scoring loss in the French capital.

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