Congratulations on all of you that took my Champions league predictions last night, and on those of you who made a profit.
Superb games, which offered us a lot of fun but the fun is not over. Nope, it continues with tonight’s games for Europa League.
As the first elimination round passed, the second is on its way and will offer much better games than the ones before.
Surprisingly Roma was eliminated, and the undefeated Salzburg as well, but this is what makes football interesting.
The games for today are:
Lille v Liverpool 11/03/2010 18:00 GMT
Atletico Madrid v Sporting CP 11/03/2010 18:00 GMT
Hamburger SV v Anderlecht 11/03/2010 18:00 GMT
Rubin Kazan v Wolfsburg 11/03/2010 18:00 GMT
Valencia v Werder Bremen 11/03/2010 20:05 GMT
Juventus v Fulham 11/03/2010 20:05 GMT
Benfica v Marseille 11/03/2010 20:05 GMT
Panathinaikos v Standard Liege 11/03/2010 20:05 GMT
I am not gonna lie to you, at first glance all of these games look like home victories to me. But let’s analyze all of them and see if that’s true.
Lille v Liverpool: The disappointing performance of Liverpool is still striking the fans with grief. Their latest visit against Wigan, was a total disaster and resulted in a loss with 1:0. Liverpool came out with almost a full squad Torres leading the attack, and Gerrard backing him up. Dirk Kuyt was effective as well which combined lead to another scoreless away game for Liverpool.
Lille is in a great shape this year doing quite strong in Europa League. The team which wasn’t considered a favorite in a group with teams like Valencia and Genoa, was able to advance and as their manager Rudi Garcia said “We are writing history”. He also mentioned that “If I asked my players to take it easy against Liverpool, they wouldn’t listen to me,” which is a clear indication Lille is going for the win tonight.
My prediction for this game would be a home victory for Lille, although they are considered the less likely team to win odds of 3.15 @ Betfair.com.
Atletico Madrid v Sporting CP: Both team are standing strong this yes. Sporting has 4 games in a row with clean sheet, victories of 3:0 3:0 and 4:0. One of these games was in Europa League against the team of Everton. Their only problem for tonight is that they will be missing two players due to injuries: Daniel Carriço and Yannick Djaló.
Atletico Madrid, has showed quite a great shape at home. Winning over Barcelona 2:1 and crushing Valencia with 4:1, sure got to mean something. The team will be with all starters ready for Sporting’s visit.
My predictions for this game is also a home win for Atletico, odds of 1.79 @ Betfair.com.
Hamburger SV v Anderlecht: Hamburger has advanced to this stage with two goals away in Holland against PSV. Their performance hasn’t been satisfying recently but they did account a victory against Herta this Saturday.
Manager Bruno Labbadia said he has a lot of respect for the 16 years old wonder boy of Anderlecht Romelu Lukaku and for the whole team as well.
Anderlecht are in a great shape and after eliminating Bilbao they are ready to face Hamburger. Few problems with the starting team as question marks hang over wunderkind Lukaku and Tom De Sutter.
This is one of the games I actually expect to end not as the bookmakers see it. My prediction for this game would be a draw odds of 3.95 @ Betfair.com
Rubin Kazan v Wolfsburg: A freaking cold weather in Russia, where the temperatures are expected to be around -10 C when the two teams meet.
Rubin will go out without some key players due to injuries. The game will miss the suspended Sergei Semak, while a combination of ankle and knee injuries have taken out Petr Bystrov, Aleksandr Ryazantsev, Vitali Kaleshin and Roman Sharonov.
Wolfburg is in similar situation where Grafite, Andrea Barzagli, Diego Benaglio, Jan Šimůnek and Karim Ziani will all miss the game. Just a reminder, Grafite has 3 goals already and without him, Wolfburg attack might not be as effective.
My prediction for this game would be a home win, due to the freezing temperatures which probably will favor the host because they are used to them, as well as the long list of missing players. Odds of 2.06 @ Betfair.com
Valencia v Werder Bremen: One of the most interesting games probably for the night. Werder’s Danish midfielder Daniel Jensen says that he believes they could go to the final this year again. Just as a reminder, last year Werder played a final against Shakhtar Donetsk and lost it, but few days later went out and won the German Cup.
Valencia, has bad memories from Werder, and captain David Albelda shares that they weren’t happy to see the Germans as their next opponent. Back in 2004/05 Valencia was knocked out from the Champions League by Werder loosing both games 1:2 at home and 2:0 away. Despite the rumors that Valencia will seek revenge, Albelda said that they will be mainly trying to advance to the next stage instead of trying to get even.
My prediction for this game would be a home victory for Valencia, because the team shows good condition and play on home turf. Odds of 1.96 @ Betfair.com
Juventus v Fulham: Another very anticipated game for tonight. Juventus hasn’t been convincing enough in home games recently. A loss from Palermo with 0:2 and the tie 0:0 against Ajax has sure disappointed the fans.
Fulham has surpassed all expectations. Being able to eliminate last years winner of the trophy is quite an achievement.
To tell you the truth folks I am not really sure about this game. My predictions would be a home victory for Juventus judging on the odds and expectations but I remain unconvinced. Odds of 1.66 for a home win @ Betfair.com
Benfica v Marseille: Benfica’s manager Jorge Jesus (lol) admits that Marseille will be by now the strongest team to face in the competition. Benfica are doing quite well, favoring an open football with a lot of goals.
Manager Didier Deschamps mentioned that his team is playing well this year, but it was hard to advance from a group with AC Milan and Real Madrid. The team totally knocked out the strong team of FC Kobenhavn beating them 3:1 home and away.
My prediction for this game would be a home victory for Benfica odds of 1.97 @ Betfair.com
Panathinaikos v Standard Liege: The surprises in the Europa League meet. Panathinaikos wasn’t expected to advance over Roma, and Standard Liege wasn’t expected to take out the undefeated team by then Redbull Salzburg. But what do you know, here they are both in the next round in the tournament.
The victory over Roma on home turf especially after loosing at half time, is sure something the Greeks can be proud of. Standard made quite an achievement as well loosing 0:2 at half-time and turning the game around 3:2.
They met Panathinaikos in the group stage of Champion’s league loosing away and winning at home. Manager says “For us, European matches are a bonus. Our main goal is to be organized and be able to play our attacking game.”
I am sure Panathinaikos ambitions however are much higher especially after taking out such a team as Roma. My predictions would be a home victory for the Greeks, odds of 1.73 @ Betfair.com
As I mentioned earlier these games look mostly like home wins. There will be few surprises perhaps somewhere, but I am not sure in which game. Thanks for visiting, good luck with your bets and have a wonderful night.
