Club World Cup betting tips: PSG to eliminate Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, Man City to smother Al-Hilal
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 rolls into the weekend with a round of 16 offering glamour ties, tactical mismatches, and jet-lagged chaos across the United States.
Not long ago, we may or may not have mocked this tournament for feeling like a warm-up act for Soccer Aid but – after nailing all three of our bets last time out, including backing Flamengo to beat Chelsea at juicy odds – we’re suddenly all in and you won’t hear a bad word said about it now.
While the stadiums still feel like someone’s parked a football match inside a food court, there’s been drama, goals, and just enough sh*thousery – like a ‘soccer’-loving yank wearing a Boca Juniors ‘jersey’ in the River Plate section – to keep things interesting.
Sports News Blitz writer turned CWC superfan and ardent Gianni Infantino backer George Dempsey is back with his broom to extend an unsustainable 100% record.
Benfica vs Chelsea
This one has all the makings of a Saturday-night banger because both sides look like they’ve brought their shooting boots.
Chelsea have scored in every group-stage game, finding the net six times in three outings, but they were carved open with alarming ease in their 3-1 defeat to Flamengo.
That didn’t surprise us as we successfully backed the Brazilians to win at juicy odds of 5/2.
Benfica, meanwhile, have been quietly chaotic in the best possible way.
They went 2-0 down early on to Boca Juniors in their opener before fighting back to draw and absolutely battered Auckland City 6-0.
A gritty 1-0 win over Bayern Munich then sealed top spot in the group, thanks in large part to a goalkeeping masterclass from Trubin.
And while Auckland was a gimme, there could have been four goals against the German champions.
In the end, both of these sides have looked sharp going forward and less convincing at the back, which makes the goals markets tempting.
Suggested bet: Over 2.5 goals & both teams to score at 11/8
READ MORE: Liam Delap: Chelsea’s £30 million No. 9 hits the ground running in Club World Cup
Paris Saint-Germain vs Inter Miami
We’re previewing PSG vs Inter Miami because it’s the game of the tournament thus far, not because Gianni slipped us a tenner to talk up his shoehorned cash cow.
There’s certainly a storyline here if Lionel Messi can get one over on PSG, a club he never quite clicked with, but it’s sentimental and not realistic.
Inter Miami’s fortuitous points tally, combined with Monterrey doing some heavy lifting, has definitely saved CONCACAF from a tournament embarrassment.
However, let’s not pretend there isn’t a massive Gulf of America between these sides.
Yes, Miami have Messi and a few savvy old heads, but defensively it’s a horror show.
I’m as big an MLS superfan as you’ll find outside the States (that one’s not sarcasm), yet even I know that Mascherano will find a way to f**k this up.
They’re getting stuffed.
That said, just having Messi is enough to carve out chances, so we’ll steer clear of the handicap.
Suggested bet: PSG to win & over 3.5 goals at 11/10
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Golf betting tips: Rocket Classic – Cameron Young to score low as Matt Fitzpatrick chases FedEx spot
Manchester City vs Al-Hilal
Somehow, Man City are a bigger price to beat Al-Hilal than PSG are to beat Miami – I wholeheartedly disagree with that.
Al-Hilal earned early respect by holding a tired, couldn’t-be-arsed Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw, but let’s keep things in perspective.
Madrid looked like they were playing their 200th game of the season on a pitch that resembled a cow field and handled like a Pakistani motorway wicket.
Even then, they should’ve won.
Since that game, Al-Hilal managed to edge past Pachuca 2-0 to make it out of the group, but they’ve scored just three goals across three matches.
Without Aleksandar Mitrovic up top, their attack feels toothless, and Simone Inzaghi’s side have gone five games in a row under 2.5 goals, so they hardly fit the profile of a giant-killer.
City, meanwhile, look like they’ve woken up.
They’ve scored 13 and conceded just two across three Club World Cup matches, including a 5-2 demolition of Juventus despite going behind early.
Pep Guardiola’s machine is ticking again, and the balance of their squad – with fresh legs, hungry depth players, plus returning stars – will be hard to match.
Ruben Neves is a perfectly handsome metrosexual man, but he’ll struggle to get a second to breathe against this City midfield.
Suggested bet: Man City -1.5 Asian handicap at 9/10
READ NEXT: Cricket betting tips: England vs India – Joe Root, Jasprit Bumrah to dominate 2025 Test series
