Champions League Tips: The best bets from the less glamorous ties

Oscar Cardozo and his Benfica team-mates can get the better of Celtic
There are eight games to get stuck in to on Wednesday night but away from the glamour of Juve's visit to Chelsea and Manchester United's opener against Galatasary, Ben Lyttleton has rooted through the other matches to bring you this betting bulletin
While Group D, which contains Real Madrid, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, has rightly been named the Group of Death - after all, it has four league champions and three clubs (Ajax aside) - who could all conceivably compete for the title this season there is one other group which could prove tricky to call.
Group E has holders Chelsea and Italian champions Juventus, but also Shakhtar Dontesk and Danish newcomers Nordsjaelland.
Shakhtar, Uefa Cup winners in 2009, are an exciting side as did well this summer to hold onto not just Willian, the playmaker wanted by Chelsea and Juventus, as well as Spurs, but also other attacking players Fernandinho and Douglas Costa. Their coach Mircea Lucescu has thrown down the gauntlet to other teams in the group, boasting: "We play better football than Chelsea and Juventus, our game is more spectacular."
And yet maybe Lucescu had not yet done his scouting on the Danish champions, who won their first title just ten years after their formation and have caused a stir back home for their attacking, possession-oriented football.
"I'm crazy about their style of play," said former international Brian Laudrup.
Their rise has led to three of their players, Jores Okore, Kasper Lorentzen and Nicolai Stokholm, getting Denmark call-ups and despite the tough group, coach Kasper Hjulmand has vowed not to change the tactics.
"We are going into every game as underdogs, and we'll be humble but still try to attack," he said. Shakhtar are rightly big favourites to win at 1.3130/100, but I like the Both Teams to Score price of 2.186/5 and Over 3.5 Goals at 2.789/5.
Nordsjaelland are not the only so-called minnows in action on Wednesday:
Belarussian champions BATE travel to Lille's new stadium for their third group-stage appearance in five years, while Romanian side Cluj take on Sporting Braga. BATE have signed national team captain Alex Hleb, still only 31, while they kept a clean sheet in two of their three qualifiers away from home. They also drew 1-1 at AC Milan's San Siro last season, so are a tough nut to crack.
Lille have started the season slowly, and were only able to draw with Troyes on Friday night; with Nolan Roux and Dmitri Payet failing to live up to expectations so far, it could be a nervous night for the hosts, where goals will be at a minimum. A home win remains most likely, for which Lille are 1.491/2 and the narrow 1-0 is a
(6.86/1) price.
Cluj are also no strangers to the group stage, and their opening game will be particularly interesting for goalkeeper Mario Felgueiras, who joined from Braga over the summer. The Romania side brought in lots of new signings after beating Basle in the qualifying play-off but their most impressive, the loan signing of Jorge Martinez from Juventus, won't take part in the group stage because of injury. It's a big blow, but the link-up play between Pantelis Kapetanos and Modou Sougou was dangerous in qualifying.
Cluj will copy Braga's 4-2-3-1 system but the Portuguese outfit's two holding midfielders for Braga, Custodio and Hugo Viana, could be the difference between the sides.
Braga were brilliant in both qualifying legs against Udinese and with Ruben Micael pulling the strings in attack, could capitalise on Cluj's weakness at centre-back alongside captain Cadu (neither Piccolo nor Rada inspire confidence). Braga are (2.3611/8) to win in the Half-Time/Full-Time market.
The noisiest stadium of the week may well be Celtic Park, where Benfica are the visitors. The Portuguese came within inches of knocking out Chelsea last season in the quarter-final, and though they have sold their two key midfielders, Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel, Nemanja Matic and Salvio are solid replacements. Carlos Martins misses out for Benfica but their experience at this level should be enough for a comfortable away win at (2.186/5) http://sports.betfair.com/football/event?id=26892690 in Glasgow.
Recommended Bets
Shakhtar and Nordsjaelland, Over 3.5 Goals at 2.789/5
Lille to beat BATE 1-0 @ 6.86/1
Braga to win at Half-Time/Full-Time @ 2.3611/8
Benfica to beat Celtic @ 2.186/5