Despite an agonising near-miss on Tuesday, our props column is sticking with the Champions League cards markets on Wednesday.
“Shakhtar have been even better card gatherers – they picked up 15 in just four qualifiers, landing 2+ in all four and 3+ in three.”
Sheriff Tiraspol v Shakhtar Donetsk
Wednesday 15 September, 17:45
Live on BT Sport ESPN
Tuesday’s 5/1 cards shot looked set to land when referee Anthony Taylor had a yellow card prepped after our man Sharparenko jumped the hoardings and ran into the crowd.
However, after VAR ruled his goal out, no card was shown.
You don’t come much closer to a winner than that but I’m sticking with the cards on Wednesday, albeit turning to a bet at a much shorter price. It is one which looks to have a great chance of winning.
In the Sheriff v Shakhtar early kick-off, we have an almost perfect storm of two ill-disciplined sides and a card-happy referee.
Let’s start with the latter. Deniz Aytekin has shown 4+ cards in 12 of his last 16 UEFA club appointments and gone 5+ in seven of his last eight.
Sheriff, the first Moldovan side to reach the group stage of the Champions League, have collected 3+ cards in three of their last four games in this competition – the qualifying ties against Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade.
Shakhtar have been even better card gatherers – they picked up 15 in just four qualifiers, landing 2+ in all four and 3+ in three.
Throw in the fact that this is a big game for both sides – Inter Milan and Real Madrid are the other teams in the group – and a shade above even money about both teams being shown over 1.5 cards looks a decent bet.
The over 2.5 cards each option pays just under 5/1 and is also worth considering.
Click here for Dan Fitch’s in-depth preview of Sheriff v Shakhtar
Source: Betfair Champions League
