The most coveted trophy in world football is so close that Arsenal, PSG, Barcelona, and Inter can almost feel it, their captains’ hands clasping the 29-inch piece of silverware. Just 450 more minutes of football (plus any extra time) will be played before the winner of the 2025 UEFA Champions League will be crowned and the second automatic qualification spot handed out for the 2029 Club World Cup.
The first legs of the semifinals will be played this weekend, with Arsenal hosting PSG tomorrow and Barça welcoming Inter on Wednesday. It marks just the fourth time since 2000 that the semifinals will feature clubs from four different nations, and with each club currently in the top two of its domestic league and three in the top four during the competition’s league phase, it promises to be good.
DraftKings Sportsbook has plenty of bets available every week for the UCL. Here are my four favorites from the next two days, with two bets from each game.
First, let’s take a look at the full list of fixtures:
Paris Saint-Germain at Arsenal, 3 p.m. ET, April 29
Internazionale at FC Barcelona, 3 p.m. ET, April 30
Paris Saint-Germain Moneyline (+235)
Although tomorrow’s match will take place at the Emirates, where the Gunners have lost just twice during the 2024-25 season, these are unreasonably friendly odds for a team as talented as PSG, which has suffered just three defeats in all competitions since the start of December. Yes, Paris lost 3-2 the most recent time that it played in England in the quarterfinal tie against Aston Villa, but it was protecting a two-goal lead and was comparatively patient in attack. The French champions undid any chance at an invincible Ligue 1 season by losing to Nice on Friday, but only because Nice shot-stopper Marcin Bułka made 12 saves.
Arsenal’s 5-1 aggregate victory over defending champions Real Madrid in the quarterfinals was undeniably impressive, but the Gunners’ form has been slipping somewhat in recent weeks. Overall, they’ve drawn three of their last six matches, all three of which came against bottom-half Premier League sides, although a few key players were on the bench in each. Still, it’s not a coincidence that their recent dip in form came after Gabriel, the linchpin of Arsenal’s elite defense, was ruled out for the rest of the season, and CDM Thomas Partey is suspended after picking up a yellow in each leg of the quarterfinal.
This game will be entertaining, especially because both teams are just 270 minutes away from claiming the first Champions League title in their histories, but the Parisians are healthier. They have the best attack in the competition and the Gunners still need a true number nine.
Bukayo Saka to Score or Give Assist (+130)
Arsenal’s star boy leads the team with 24 goal contributions this season in all competitions despite playing just 31 matches after suffering a serious hamstring injury in December that cost him more than three months. In the nine matches prior to his injury, Saka had been on an absolute roll, recording at least one goal contribution in five of them. He then netted as a substitute in the first match after his return and again in the second leg against Real Madrid. Mikel Arteta has been careful with him, opening with him on the bench in three of the last four Premier League matches in preparation for a likely start tomorrow night. He’s a playmaking wizard who ranks in the 98th percentile among wingers in assists per 90 minutes.
Saka won’t have it easy; between Achraf Hakimi on the right and Nuno Mendes on the left, PSG arguably has two of the best outside backs in the world. But since Saka plays on the right, he’ll spend more of the match going against Mendes, who’s a slightly less dangerous option. Although Mendes wins a greater percentage of his tackles than Hakimi, is slightly more likely to win an aerial duel, and has recorded nearly twice as many clearances as his teammate, he is less likely to block a pass, so Saka is more likely to record an assist going against Mendes than Hakimi. And in the unlikely event that Paris concedes its fourth spot kick of the season, Saka is Arsenal’s first-choice penalty taker.
Inter Milan-Barcelona Total 10+ Shots on Target (+105)
Very little needs to be said about Barça’s brilliant front three. Raphinha is probably the Ballon d’Or favorite, although DraftKings Sportsbook does not offer betting lines on the trophy. He is second in the Champions League in goals and first in assists, and he’s fairly likely to end up leading the competition in both because the current Golden Boot leader, Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy, has been eliminated. On the other side, Lamine Yamal provided two assists in the Blaugrana’s Copa del Rey triumph over Real Madrid on Saturday, and Hansi Flick’s unit hasn’t missed a beat with Ferrán Torres in front in place of Robert Lewandowski, who won’t suit up on Wednesday. Barça has recorded at least six shots on goal in all but four Champions League matches, and the second leg against Dortmund can be ignored given the size of the lead it was protecting.
But while Inter’s defense is its calling card — it leads the competition with eight clean sheets in 12 matches and has conceded a competition-low five goals — it still has a lethal attack behind the strike partnership of Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram and veteran attacking midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu. Sure, the Nerrazzuri are in awful form, having lost each of their last three matches and not recording more than three shots on target in any of them and getting just six of their 41 shots (14.6%) on target across that span. That should normalize towards their typical 31.4% mark, especially with Thuram’s likely return. Both teams will also have missing defenders — Alejandro Balde for Barcelona and Benjamin Pavard for Inter — so it should be an attack-oriented match.
Dani Olmo Anytime Goalscorer (+175)
Ferrán is a more natural replacement for Lewandowski in the goal-scoring department, given that he’s a more natural nine and will start up front alongside two of Europe’s most talented playmakers. But since the Polish great went down against Celta Vigo on April 19, both Ferrán and Olmo have found the back of the net twice, and though Ferrán’s odds of +135 to score should be higher given Lewandowski’s near-certain absence, I like Olmo’s value better. Olmo has been more efficient than Ferrán from a goals per shot on target perspective in La Liga this season, although Ferrán’s numbers are somewhat better in the Champions League and he also gets shots on target more frequently. But Olmo is the more versatile attacker; he creates far more shot-creating actions than Ferrán and has a much higher success rate in take-ons. He also wins aerials at a higher rate despite being three inches shorter, which is a plus against Inter’s big back line.
