It was a packed schedule of midweek football, with the Champions League and UEFA’s other continental competitions rubbing shoulders with some action in the Championship, League One and League Two.
There was even a card of games in Major League Soccer, so punters seeking to get some skin in the game had plenty of options at their disposal.
One William Hill punter took full advantage, putting together an inter-continental 12-fold acca of match winner bets across Tuesday and Wednesday’s schedule, with UCL, EFL and MLS contests in their sights.
And it was a decision that proved rather fruitful, as they turned their £20 stake into a payout of more than £22,000 thanks to their perfect predictions…
The Delightful Dozen
Tuesday’s Champions League games served up an extravaganza of goals and action – across nine matches, there were 43 goals, six penalties awarded and five red cards!
That was the most goals scored in a single Champions League game night (of nine matches) in the competition’s history, beating the previous milestone of 40 goals set last season. Thankfully for our punter, they were on the right side of the chaos.
They backed Barcelona to beat Olympiacos, which they duly did by a handsome 6-1 margin – Marcus Rashford twice on the scoresheet, while PSG went one better in a 7-2 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen.
Manchester City and Newcastle United both won comfortably as well, with Erling Haaland once again finding the net – this time in a 2-0 victory at Villarreal.
Newcastle were made to work hard initially by Jose Mourinho’s Benfica, but after Anthony Gordon fired the opener for the Magpies it was plain sailing thereafter – Harvey Barnes’ brace capping a fine 3-0 win over the Portuguese outfit.
And Inter Milan’s 4-0 triumph in Belgium against Union St.Gilloise helped our punter to a perfect five from five in Tuesday’s UCL action.
There was also a strong slate of Championship games that night, with the William Hill customer taking meaty odds-against prices on Hull City to beat Leicester City (they did by a 2-1 scoreline) and Millwall to defeat Stoke (2-0).
Meanwhile, David Ozoh’s second-half goal was enough to see Derby past Norwich City.
And so a spectacular Tuesday night came to an end with our punter firmly in the hot seat. But any cash out offers were rebuffed… what would Wednesday bring?
My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)
The second night of the Champions League double-header went much the way of the first, with some big wins backed by our punter.
Chelsea destroyed Ajax 5-1, aided by the Dutchmen’s implosion when Kenneth Taylor was sent off after just 15 minutes. The Blues then ran riot, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo on the scoresheet.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich were three goals to the good after 34 minutes against Club Brugge, with Harry Kane – who else? – finding the net. In the end, the German champions ran out 4-0 winners to complete another straightforward leg of our punter’s acca.
Also on the coupon was Real Madrid to defeat Juventus. The Galacticos were the dominant force in this game, but found the Italians’ strong organisation tough to break down.
However, their breakthrough finally came in the second period – Jude Bellingham ending his long wait for a goal, with Real holding on easily enough to that 1-0 scoreline.
All of which meant that the William Hill customer had cheered home eleven winning legs of twelve, with just one game outstanding.
The Major League Soccer season has reached its business end, with the best performing teams in the league phase progressing to the play-off stage. Amongst them is the Chicago Fire, who entered at the Wild Card stage against Orlando City.
Chicago were the stronger of the two teams in the first half, albeit without finding the net as they went in 0-0 at half time.
However, that domination would finally tell in the second period, with the Fire notching three goals in the space of 19 minutes.
Orlando pulled one back in the 89th minute, but that would prove to be too little, too late as the hosts completed a 3-1 victory at the SeatGeek Stadium.
That rounded out our punter’s 12-fold acca, securing them a place in the betting hall of fame. In less than 48 hours, they had turned a £20 bet into a payout of a cool £22,389… a midweek they’ll never forget, that’s for sure!