An average date in the state of Massachusetts costs over $200! Since I know that every one of us could use some extra cash around Valentine’s Day, the Indy Sportsbook is looking to help you finance the Valentine’s Day date of your dreams, whether you are taking your lover to Jefe’s or Tuscano.
But before we free you from a lifelong career in investment banking, we’ll recap our picks from arguably the biggest sporting event of the year: The Super Bowl.
While many fans may argue over whether or not the Super Bowl was scripted for Taylor Swift, it appears that we at the Indy Sportsbook received the correct script, getting five out of our six picks correct this Sunday.
Even before the game had started, we enjoyed our first victory of the night, with the national anthem going comfortably over 90.5 seconds. It did not take long for our second bet to hit either, as we accurately predicted the first play of the game to be a rush to the left for fewer than 9 yards. We didn’t slow down from there, with a first-half Christian McCaffrey touchdown and Travis Kelce comfortably getting over 6.5 receptions—the clean sweep of in-game bets were a resounding success.
Our only loss of the day was a difficult one to take, as we incorrectly predicted the Gatorade color to be orange. In our defense, what kind of psychopath drinks purple Gatorade?
The NFL will be sorely missed for the next few months. For those of you who can’t wait until September, you’re in luck! The end of the season brings forth the beginning of an even better tournament: the UEFA Champions League.
If you’re one of the many Americans who find soccer boring, I guarantee you that, while we can’t promise you a winning bet, we can promise you the most anxiety-filled two hours of your life. We don’t condone impossibly long parlays, but there will always be multiple Champions League games on any given gameday. To make the viewing experience even more enjoyable, consider betting on a couple of games at the same time and realize just how high-scoring soccer can be.
The first round features a couple of tantalizing games. Our two must-watch games will be Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig and PSV Eindhoven vs Borussia Dortmund. These two games will feature fast-paced, high-tempo, attacking soccer from all sides, exactly what you need during your 3 P.M. lectures.
If you were rejected by your crush and in need of a no-sweat win, look no further than Manchester City to advance against FC Copenhagen (-1600). Manchester City will look to repeat after their historic treble-winning season last year and look likely to do just that. With the return of Kevin DeBruyne and Erling Haaland from injury, a monumental effort from any team will be required to stop the champions and favorites from winning it all at (+210).
Real Madrid go into their game against RB Leipzig as heavy favorites to advance at (-310). We can see Leipzig winning a game and will be anxiously watching this matchup, but we would never bet against Real Madrid in the Champions League. They have won the tournament the most out of any team (twice as many as second place) and are led by Jude Bellingham, who has the most total goal contributions in the tournament thus far. RB Leipzig has a young and exciting attacking core with Xavi Simons, Lois Openda, and Benjamin Sesko leading the way. However, we predict the overwhelming dominance of the Madrid midfield to be too much to handle for the German side.
Elsewhere in the competition are some closely contested matches where predicting a winner becomes more complicated.
Atletico Madrid faces Inter Milan in what will be a tactical battle between Aletico’s Diego Simeone and Milan’s Simone Inzaghi. Both teams are high-flying this season and have come into the round in good form. Inter sits first in Serie A, while Atletico has two of the best strikers in the world: Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann. Both teams stand out for their resilient defense-first approach—Inter, for one, have conceded the fewest goals in the top five leagues and will be reliant on their defense to stop the in-form Atletico offense. These games will be extremely hard-fought, and with Atletico Madrid having the reverse fixture at home, I predict they will be able to hold Inter in the first leg and get the job done in the second leg to advance at (+110).
Napoli takes on Barcelona in a game that we would have loved to watch last year, but both teams have struggled this season and have underperformed up until this point. Barcelona have already chosen to fire their coach at the end of the season, and Napoli have struggled tactically ever since the firing of Luciano Spalleti and the sale of their best defender, Kim Min Jae. Winning this round of 16 fixture will be vital for both teams moving forward. We predict a tight match—Victor Osimhen of Napoli will be the deciding factor, and hesitantly, Napoli will pull out the win (+140) to advance.
PSV hopes to continue their historic dominant season against Borussia Dortmund in what should be a very fun, high-scoring affair. PSV’s vertical wing play might prove to be overwhelming for Dortmund. The Dutch side is unbeaten in the league and hopes to capitalize on their good form against the German giants, which could very well bring a nice paycheck at (+104).
If you are a fan of the underdog story, here are a couple of long shots that might not be that much of a risk after all.
Paris Saint-Germain undeniably have one of the best players in world football, Kylian Mbappe. Despite this, they only narrowly qualified for the round of 16 and have not passed into the quarter-finals since 2020. They have an uninspiring team and look to be losing out on Mbappe to Real Madrid at the end of the season. They face a Real Sociedad side that has looked very competent in the Champions League this season, out-qualifying Inter Milan with an impressive 3-1 win against Benfica. Sociedad are considered underdogs at (+164), and we would advise betting on them to get the job done.
The final matchup of the round sees Arsenal taking on Porto. Arsenal is one of the favorites to win the entire competition, and Porto is a heavy underdog at (+330), but if there is ever a team to struggle in the Champions League, it is Arsenal. They have not passed the round of 16 since 2009, an astonishing statistic from one of the better teams in world football. We don’t think this streak will continue, but if there’s one thing we are, it is haters—and with little evidence to back us up, we will be backing Porto to beat Arsenal.
Vincent Honrubia ’27 (vincenthonrubia@college.harvard.edu) will be busy watching soccer on Valentine’s Day.