Thursday is often a quieter day in the football week but that’s not the case this week with the new-look Champions League league phase providing six top-quality contests.

Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig and Barcelona are among the top teams in action and we’ve concentrated on those attention-grabbing fixtures for our three best football bets for Friday.

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Bet of the day

Crvena Zvezda or draw double chance vs Benfica – 4/5

Portuguese giants Benfica have been made hot favourites for their Champions League trip to Belgrade to face Crvena Zvezda but their poor away form is a cause for concern and it would be no surprise to see the home team picking up at least a point.

The Serbian side managed only one point in their group last season but that came in a home game against Young Boys, and in a tough section they also gave a good account of themselves against Manchester City and RB Leipzig at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.

Red Star lost only 2-1 to the German side and 3-2 to the Premier League champions in Belgrade and home advantage can help them to open their account at the first attempt.

Benfica are yet to win on the road this season, losing 2-0 at Famalicao in their first game of the new campaign and drawing 1-1 at Moreirense, while they also won only one of their final five away matches last season. 

Special of the Day

Leverkusen to win & over 3.5 goals vs Feyenoord – 23/10

German teams were involved in some high-scoring Champions League games on Tuesday as Bayern Munich walloped Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 while Stuttgart lost 3-1 to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu and it could be more of the same when Bayer Leverkusen visit Feyenoord.

There have been four or more goals scored in three of the Dutch side’s first five fixtures in all competitions this season while four of the five games that Leverkusen have played have gone over 3.5 goals too. 

Leverkusen’s hopes of another unbeaten campaign went down early when they were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig and they followed that with another five-goal game, this time with a more positive outcome as they won 4-1 at Hoffenheim last Saturday.

Bayer’s Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz and Alex Grimaldo were all recently nominated for the Ballon d’Or award and that quality suggests we should combine an away win with over 3.5 goals in the match.

Feyenoord have won only three of their last 12 games in the Champions League and could be outclassed by the Bundesliga champions.

Longshot of the Day

RB Leipzig to beat Atletico Madrid – 17/5

German side RB Leipzig could be underestimated by their odds to cause an upset against Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.

Leipzig have finished in the top four of the Bundesliga for an impressive six successive seasons and they represent a serious league-phase threat to Atleti, who must also face PSG and Bayer Leverkusen in their initial eight matches.

Marco Rose’s team have made another strong start to their domestic season, earning seven points from their first three Bundesliga fixtures.

Their 3-2 road win against German champions Bayer Leverkusen showed that they are not daunted by tackling tough away games and with talented forwards Benjamin Sesko, Xavi Simons and Lois Openda they are capable of giving Atletico a thorough test.

Atletico went one stage further than Leipzig in last season’s competition when reaching the quarter-finals and they are unbeaten in La Liga so far, but with their wins coming over Girona, Bilbao and last-placed Valencia, this is their first test against a top-tier team and they could be vulnerable to a home upset.

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Odds correct at time of publish and subject to change*

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