Andrew Wilsher
The 2025-26 Champions League continues on Thursday and wraps up the week’s action with another 6 matchups. The standout clashes are Newcastle vs Barcelona and Manchester City vs Napoli, and we have picks for both of those games as part of our Champions League best bets for Thursday, September 18. You can also find out all of our expert soccer picks for the rest of the week’s UCL action, along with all the big EPL and MLS matchups.
Champions League best bet: Manchester City ML over Napoli (-165)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Kevin De Bruyne makes a quick return to the Etihad Stadium on Thursday when his former club Manchester City host his new employers Napoli in the league phase of the Champions League. The Belgian has made a bright start to life in Serie A, although it is clear that he was unhappy about how his glittering 10-year stint at City came to an end. He will want to remind his old boss Pep Guardiola of his qualities in this clash.
Napoli have made a great start to the defense of their Serie A crown with 3 wins out of 3, including a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina on Saturday night that featured goals for De Bruyne and ex-Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund. His record of five goals in six previous Champions League games is outstanding too and it would be no surprise to see him flourish away from Old Trafford.
However, Hojlund’s record and finishing prowess pales in comparison to Erling Haaland’s. The City hitman has bagged 49 goals in 48 Champions League games and, with 3 strikes in 2 previous games against Napoli, should be able to lead City to victory here. Haaland has scored 8 goals in his last 3 matches for club and country and, after destroying United in the Manchester derby on Sunday, will likely give the Citizens the quality edge to beat their Italian opponents.
Read our full Manchester City vs Napoli prediction
Champions League best bet: Newcastle Win or Tie over Barcelona (-150)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Barcelona begin their Champions League campaign with a tough league phase trip to St. James’ Park to face a Newcastle team that now has some momentum after beating Wolves at the weekend. Eddie Howe’s side earned a vital 1-0 home victory with new signing Nick Woltemade opening his account with a fine back-post header. The German’s movement and link-up play could pose the Barcelona defense plenty of problems again on Thursday. Valencia asked next to no questions at all of Hansi Flick’s team in a landslide Barca home La Liga victory on Sunday, as the Catalan giants secured a huge 6-0 win.
It is incomprehensible to think that Howe will send his team out to be defensive as Champions League football returns to Tyneside. The Magpies always gave it a go at home during their ill-fated and injury-hit campaign 2 years ago when they beat Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 on a famous night. Howe’s team are not quite as gung-ho as they were in those days, but they are certainly capable of keeping a Barca team quiet that may be without Lamine Yamal. Yamal is suffering from pain in the pubic bone that flared up while on international duty, with Marcus Rashford likely to start in his place.
The best value in this game looks to be for Newcastle to avoid defeat. Barca were held to a 1-1 draw by Rayo Vallecano in their last road game and failed to beat PSG or Borussia Dortmund in their 2 most recent European road trips. They were already 4-0 up from the first leg, so the performance in Dortmund raised few eyebrows, but they were flat from the first whistle and could have been 2 goals down before Dortmund got their first. Another slow start could be a problem against a Newcastle side that is solid in defence and has wingers that track back to protect the full-backs.
Read our full Newcastle vs Barcelona prediction
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