Leipzig look to avoid 0-4 start in Champions League play. ...

Favored Liverpool host Bayer Leverkusen. ...

Aston Villa look to stay hot in Champions League play. ...

Inter, Arsenal collide in Champions League play. ...

Benfica enters on a six-game winning streak in all competitions and sits third in the Portuguese Liga. The side's last Champions League match was a stunningly impressive 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid. Kerem Aktürkoglu has eight goals in his last eight games for club and country. Midfielder Renato Sanches will return from injury Wednesday after missing the past six overall matches. Feyenoord is 4-4 in the Dutch Eredivisie and 1-1 in the Champions League this season, allowing six total goals in UCL play. It has a handful of guys dealing with injuries. The teams haven't played in more than 50 years.

You’re not going to see this price often with this Liverpool side. The Reds are firing on all cylinders under new manager Arne Slot, winning seven straight across all competitions. RB Leipzig have lost both UCL matches this season, so they’ll be desperate for a positive result. The German side will find it tough to break down Liverpool's backline. who've conceded just three goals in the Premier League. The quality of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez lead the Reds to victory on the road.

Undoubtedly the most highly anticipated matchup of Matchday 3 features two of the best clubs the world has to offer, both under new management. Hansi Flick has done a tremendous job at the helm of Barcelona and will look to finally break the nine-year cold streak against Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich have won six straight matches going over the last nine years. The one thing I see in this match is goals. Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal are rampaging throughout Spain, while Bayern Munich have Harry Kane and Thomas Muller, among others. I would take the Over even if it was at 4.5.

Celtic’s limitations were brutally exposed when they lost 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League at the start of October. The Hoops dominate the Scottish Premiership, but they tend to struggle against elite European teams, especially when playing on the road. Their recent form has been indifferent, as they scraped a 2-1 win against Ross County before drawing 2-2 with Aberdeen at the weekend. Celtic could be outclassed by a strong Atalanta team, who beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0, Genoa 5-1 and Venezia 2-0 in their last three games.

October has been very good to Atalanta, which has won all three matches this month by a combined 10-1. Included was a 3-0 win on UCL Matchday 2 when Shakhtar couldn't';t even manage a shot on goal. After a draw with a full-strength Arsenal on Matchday 1, this competition hardly seems out of its depth for r Atalanta, which also recently put 5 past Genoa, with Mateo Retegui netting a hat trick and now on eight goals this season. Meanwhile, we've seen this before from Celtic, as dominating in the SPL and beating sides like Slava Bratislava 5-1 on Matchday 1 do not translate into success vs. European elites, as Borussia Dortmund reminded in a 7-1 blast job on Matchday 2. Play Atlanta on Spread

Juventus are unbeaten in 10 games since the start of the season, so the players should be full of confidence right now. The Bianconeri began their Champions League campaign with an impressive 3-1 home win against PSV Eindhoven, and they then beat RB Leipzig 3-2 on Matchday 2. That leaves them five points clear of struggling Stuttgart, who lost 3-1 away at Real Madrid and then drew 1-1 at home against Sparta Prague. Stuttgart are coming off a dismal 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich at the weekend, and Juventus should be able to pile more misery upon them.

Aston Villa's first-ever Champions League home match was a rousing success against Bayern Munich, and the Villains are 2-0 in the competition this season while sitting fourth in the Premier League table with just one league loss. Aston Villa has only failed to score in one of their last 33 UEFA competition home games and has won seven of its past eight home European matches. It could become only the third side to win its opening three games in the UEFA Champions League without conceding after Málaga in 2012-13 and Leicester City in 2016-17. Bologna has one victory this year in Serie A and yet to score in two UCL matches so far.

Juventus haven't lost a match across all competitions this season and have won three of their last four overall. Vfb Stuttgart, meanwhile, are winless in their past four matches in all competitions, most recently losing 4-0 at Bayern Munich on Saturday. I’m backing Juventus to secure all three points behind an attack that has scored 11 goals over its last six games, which includes a 3-1 thrashing against PSV at home in UCL action.

Villa Park proved to be an extremely tough place to play when Aston Villa defeated Bayern Munich in UCL action on Oct. 2. Aston Villa are coming off an impressive 3-1 win against Fulham in league play, the seventh time the Villans have scored at least two goals in their nine matches across all competitions. Bologna have won just one their previous 10 matches and they’ve yet to score in two Champions League fixtures. Villa wins comfortably at home.

I’m doing my best not to overthink this one. Sporting should obliterate this Sturm Graz side. I know that Sturm Graz are currently the top team in Austria, even besting the usually giants of Austria in RB Salzburg. But their UCL form is lacking, their defense seems non-existent and Sporting are absolutely rampaging through Portugal. Sturm Graz have dropped all three points against Club Brugge and Brest, and both of these teams are worse than Sporting. With Viktor Gyokeres, Sporting should win this match by at least two goals, and if this ended closer to 5-1, I wouldn’t be shocked.

A repeat of the 2023-2024 Champions League final will take place between the giants of Spain and the surprisingly dominant German side. After picking up new world-class talent Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid are poised to add more silverware to their already impressive cabinet. While both of these clubs have the attacking talent for a tremendous matchup, I’m expecting both teams to play a bit on its heels. Neither team will want to make the mistake of conceding the first goal with both teams looking to finish well into the top eight of the group stage. As much as I love betting on goals, I see this being a low-scoring and cagey affair between two teams that historically take a little bit to get things started.