Picks
|
|
|
Champions League Midweek
by Ben, last updated 2007-02-18 21:10:29Only 1 bet for me this round. Inter Milan to beat Valencia on the Asian Handicap (-0.5) at 1.825 at bet365.
The only other bet I fancy is Celtic to be AC Milan. Milan have striker problems and Celtic park is a bit of a fortess in the Champions League - just ask Man U.
Pinnacle Preview
The cream of Europe domestic soccer has risen to the top as 16 teams approach the knock-out phase of the Champions League. With ten former European champions among them, it is no easy task to find the winner. Chelsea are the Premiership's leading contender, vying for outright favouritism with holders Barcelona at www.pinnaclesports.com , the internet's leading online bookmaker offering up to 60% better Champions League odds than the competition.
If you're confident one of the pair will be celebrating under the ticker-tape at Athen's Olympic Arena in May, www.pinnaclesports.com has priced the duo 2.55, versus the field, 1.606. To get to the final, the reigning champions must first negotiate the tie of the round, meeting the 2005 winners, Liverpool.
Barca swept all before them last season, successfully defending their La Liga title and winning this competition in Paris, but that air of invincibility was missing in the Group phase. The Reds have the benefit of playing the second leg at Anfield, so the Catalans will be keen to gain an advantage from Wednesday's tie at the Nou Camp, priced 2.10 (-1) at www.pinnaclesports.com , with Liverpool 1.833 (+1).
When Porto and Chelsea were drawn together, a wry smile formed across Jose Mourinho's face. The Special One left the Portuguese side after success in this competition in 2004, to begin a revolution at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho's departure was the catalyst for a mass exodus of the talent that had also brought the Dragoes UEFA Cup success in 2003.
Nevertheless, Porto are still the leading force in Portuguese football, but www.pinnaclesports.com rates them as slight underdogs 2.07 (0/scratch & 0.5) despite home advantage, with Chelsea 1.862 (0/scratch & -0.5) looking to take a lead back to Stamford Bridge.
Despite qualifying for his pension, Alex Ferguson's enthusiasm for the game is undiminished, but the Scot may consider retirement if he could repeat the success he enjoyed in this competition in 1999. Though you will hear the cliche about 'no easy games at this level', Lille are 100/1 with www.pinnaclesports.com for overall success. Surprisingly they contributed to United's humiliating early exit last year winning the most recent of four meetings. Out for revenge, the Red Devils are 2.05 (-0.5) for the game at the tiny Stade Lille-Metropole, looking for Rooney and Ronaldo to continue their inspirational form, while the French minnows are 1.877 (+0.5).
Though Celtic have finally broken their Champions League duck, qualifying for the knock-out stages at the fourth attempt, Hoops fans will be acutely aware that the club are still seeking their first Champions League success on the continent - with one draw and 11 defeats from 12 attempts.
In contrast, Celtic's Champions League record at Parkhead is quite imposing, (including qualifying games) they have only lost one of the last 19 games. If the Bhoys are to stand any chance of getting past AC Milan, they must surely take a comfortable lead to the San Siro. Celtic lost 3-1 in Italy when the sides met three years ago, with the return leg finishing goalless. For Tuesday's crunch game www.pinnaclesports.com price Celtic 1.952 (0/scratch & +0.5) with Milan 1.971 (0/scratch & -0.5)
Arsense Wenger will be hoping that his young-Gunners can build on the experience of the last campaign where Arsenal made it all the way to the final eventually losing 2-1 to Barcelona which ended a record-breaking sequence of ten consecutive clean sheets in this competition.
As Arsenal topped their group, they earned the right to play their second leg against Dutch Champions PSV at the Emirates Stadium where they remain unbeaten. The Farmers came agonisingly close to a final appearance in 2005, when a young side pushed AC Milan all the way. However, as is often the case with promising Dutch sides, the team's most promising stars left for Europe's better paid leagues, and Ronald Koeman's side face a real challenge to progress to the quarter-finals. However, for this first leg in Holland www.pinnaclesports.com cannot separate the sides on their Asian Handicap pricing PSV 2.10 (0/scratch), with Arsenal 1.833 (0/scratch).
Elsewhere former European heavyweights Real Madrid and Bayern Munich slug it out to try to rebuild their fading reputations, while Inter Milan look to transfer their record breaking winning streak in Serie A to Europe. The Nerazzurri face Valencia, finalists in 2000 and 2001, who cruised through topping Group D. The line-up for the knock-out phase it completed by Roma and Lyon, both considered dangerous dark horses.
← Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 Next →
|
|
| ↑ Top of page |
|