Group F

In group F, Chelsea has been unbelievably great. They have won all five matches in the Champions League so far and is the only team that has maximum points in the group stage. It is also one of the reasons that make Chelsea one of the favourites to win the Champions League even though they are having an extremely bad form in the league at the moment.

Behind the sovereigns Chelsea, there are two teams fighting, Marseille and Spartak Moscow to take the second place in the group. But I do not know if it is so much fighting really, because the difference between these two teams are three points to Marseille’s advantage and twelve goals up for Marseilles. At the last place in this group, we find Zlina from Slovakia, which still have not taken a single point in the group stage in the five games that they have played.

The odds and my best bettingtips from this group (all odds is from bwin football tips:

MKS Zlina vs. Spartak Moscow, odds: home win 2.95 in odds, draw 3.35 in odds and away win 2.25 in odds

My bettingtips: MKS Zlina (Home team) to win @ 2.95 in odds

I find it difficult to decide on the outcome of this match. Zlina has been clearly the worst in this group, but now their opponents do not have much to play for the first time.

Certainly, Moscow has small chance and “something” to play for but they cannot possibly believe in themselves that they can pass Marseille when they have to bring in three points and impossible 12 goals difference to take the second place?

Zlina has 2 – 17 in goal difference so actually I should not believe that they would have a chance to win this game. But, somehow I have a feeling that they will take a win in this last game. I cannot actually explain what else then the fact that I think that they will be hungrier to win the last game and that they will have the higher motivation speaks for a home win in this game.

Zlina pays almost 3 times in odds and the Russian pays 2.25 in odds. I do not feel that 2.25 interest me in this game so I choose to put my bet on the Slovakian team. However, I would not recommend you to bet high stakes on this bettingtips since Zlina still are standing without points.

Marseille vs. Chelsea, odds: home win 2.25 in odds, draw 3.25 in odds and away win 3.20 in odds

My bettingtips: Chelsea (away team) to win @ 3.20 in odds

Chelsea is a strange side so far into this season. They have won all their five games in Champions League and done it by showing great strength. Chelsea has 14 – 3 in goal difference and that is impressing as well. At the same time, they are going really really bad in the league with only 3 points in the last 6 games. What makes those stats even stranger is that they started strong in the league as well and looked hard to beat at all. This is probably the toughest game in Champions League for the London side. Marseille is a very competent opponent and they are hard to beat at Stade Velodrome (their home ground).

But after Chelsea’s bad results in the league I am pretty sure that Carlo Angelotti (Chelsea’s manager) would like to take a win before the next league game. Even though Chelsea has won all their matches in Champions League so far they pay as high as 3.20 in odds in this game. Marseille at the same time pays very low in odds compared to their opponent. Think that Manchester United, AC Milan and several other teams pays higher odds as Champions League winners than Chelsea does.

I just have to try 3.20 in odds on Chelsea and pick the away win as my best tips here.

In addition, here is a special bet from one of these matches:

Marseille vs. Chelsea, over 2.5 goals in the match @ 2.02 in odds

Chelsea has scored 14 goals in 5 games which almost becomes an average of three made goals. Besides that, they have even let some goals in. Marseille also plays quite scoring games since they have done as much as 11 goals in five matches and let in three backwards.

Chelsea is often playing an offence football in Champions League and score a lot. I am a bit surprised that the odds on the bet that it will be under 2.5 goals (which means two goals or less totally in this game) is paying less than the over 2.5 goals bet.

According to me this is a game that I think will end over 2.5 goals more times then under. Chelsea doesn’t have any pressure on them, but still they need to start scoring for their coming league matches and for their self confidence. So I find this bettingtips very valuable to bet on.

Good luck with your Champions League betting

/Amrish

In these two texts I will give you my best picks and odds for these. I have chosen to separate Tuesday’s matches in this first article and then continue with Wednesday’s matches in next part.

One thing that you should keep in mind before betting is to watch the standings for each group and find out witch teams still have something to play for and witch teams already have secured their places. It can be a big deferens in their motivation and staring line-ups according to how important this game is. Here is a short explanation what deferens the different positions means:

Each group winner goes to the knock out round, of course, but with the added benefit that they will play the second game at home. All runner-ups in the group go to the knockout stage as well and will be drawn against the group winners. All third finishers in the groups will continue playing in the slightly less prestigious European League. And all the team that ends last in the groups have to end their European season for this year.

The pre conditions in group A – D is that Bordeaux already have won group A while Juventus and B München is fighting for the second place. Maccabi Haifa is still standing without one single point and will definitely finish last. 

In group B Manchester United, Wolfsburg and CSKA Moskva is fighting for a place in the knock out stage while Besiktas has a small chance to finish third if they beat CSKA in the last game with 1 – 0 or two goals up. 

Group C is a battle between AC Milan and Marseille for the second place. Real Madrid has already won the group and FC Zürich will finish last.

And in group D Chelsea and Porto have secured the first and second place. Atletico Madrid and Apoel are struggling to finish third.

Here are all the matches and odds that will be played on Tuesday:

 All the odds is from bwin-champions-league

Juventus 2.30 draw 3.45 FC Bayern München 2.80 

Maccabi Haifa 2.40 draw 3.30 Girondins de Bordeaudraw 2.75

Besiktas 2.75 draw 3.40 CSKA Moskva 2.35

VfL Wolfsburg 2.45 draw 3.35 Manchester United 2.65  

FC Zürich 6.75 draw 4.50 AC Milan 1.40 

Olympique de Marseille 2.95 draw 3.45 Real Madrid 2.20 

Atlético Madrid 1.75  draw 3.40 FC Porto 4.60

FC Chelsea 1.35 draw 4.40 APOEL 7.50 

And here comes my best bet for this day 

FC Zürich 6.75 draw 4.50 AC Milan 1.40 – home win @ 1.40 

Ac Milan has everything in their own hand in this last round. They are one point ahead of third placed Marseille from France and that means that if Ac Milan wins this game they are trough from this group. 

At the same time FC Zürich are five points behind Marseille, so they don’t have anything but their honour to play for.

The Italian teams, and especially Milan, have this strange ability to somehow always go trough from these tough situations that they put them selves in. And I am pretty sure that they will to the same this time as well. 

It’s remarkable that Milan only loss in this group came against Zürich at home in the second round. But that was probably a combination of underestimation and that they had some kind of over reliance of themselves. Now when the match means so much all their experience players will take a step forward and win this game for them. So even though the odds seams a bit low to be an away game in Champions League, I am pretty sure that AC Milan will go win and go trough. And if they win this game it doesn’t matter how the second match in this group between Marseille vs Real Madrid ends. 

Some other interesting odds that might be valuable:

Juventus 2.30 draw 3.45 FC Bayern München 2.80 – Draw @3.45 

This is a very interesting game in group A. Bayern München seamed to be knocked out before last round, but since Bordeaux won in their home game against Juventus the German side still have the chance to go trough. 

Juventus is one point ahead of B München before this sixth round and that means that Bayern München has to win this game to go trough, if they don’t Juventus will follow Bordeaux to the last 16. And just as I mentioned above – the Italian sides are experts on playing on result and just go trough. Even Inter Milan is in the same position as Juventus and Milan in this sixth round and I would not be surprised if all of them goes trough. 

The forth Italian team in this tournament, Fiorentina, is already in the knock out stage and it means that Italy can be the only country with four teams in the knock out stage since Liverpool and Atletico Madrid for sure will miss to qualify. 

 I think that the draw in this game in interesting, and as always the draw pays pretty well.

In the next text, below here, I continue with my best picks and analysis from group F – H.

Here are all the matches and odds for group E – H. I will give you all the pre conditions for these groups as well as I did in the text above.

FC Liverpool 2.10 draw 3.30 Fiorentina 3.30

Olympique Lyon 1.16 draw 7.00 VSC Debreceni 13.00

FC Sevilla 1.38 draw 4.35 Glasgow Rangers 7.85

VfB Stuttgart 1.60 draw 3.75 Unirea Urziceni 5.25

Olympiakos Pireus 2.10 draw 3.00 FC Arsenal 3.65

Standard Liege 1.90 draw 3.40 AZ Alkmaar3.85

Dynamo Kiev 5.75 draw 3.55 FC Barcelona 1.60

Inter Milan 1.45 draw 4.00 Rubin Kazan 7.00

Here are all you need to know before you put your bets for these matches regarding the standings in the groups.

In group E it’s already decided that Fiorentina and Lyon will go trough. The only thing that isn’t sure yet is witch of these teams will win this group. Lyon has a big advantage since they have their last match against Debreceni at home, and Debreceni is still standing without any points. Liverpool will be third in this grope no matter how the last round ends.

Group F is more open. This is the only group in of all groups in Champions League where all the teams still have the chance to go trough to last 16. Barcelona is lead with 8 points, followed by Inter Milan and Rubin Kazan on 6 points each. At the moment Dynamo Kiev is last in this group, but if they manage to win with 2 – 0 or with 3 goals or more they will pass the former Champions in the table and go trough. So this is really an exiting group.

In group G Sevilla is trough for sure. Behind them Unirea and Stuttgart is fighting for the second place. Unirea, from Romania, holds that position at the moment. But both these teams will meat each other in the last round and that match will be played in Germany. Glasgow Rangers will end last in this group.

And finally Group H where Arsenal already have won the group. Olympiakos and Standard Liege are fighting for the second place. Standard goes trough if Olympiakos looses against Arsenal home and if Standard wins their last game against AZ at the same time. But if AZ wins the last game they will pass Standard and go to the European League.

Here is my best bet for Wednesday’s matches:

Standard Liege 1.90 draw 3.40 AZ Alkmaar3.85 – Home win @ 1.85

I am surprised over how bad AZ has been in the Champions League, and at the same time I am surprised over that Standard has been way better then I thought they would be.

For example Standard Liege lead with 2 – 0 against Arsenal in the first round, and even though Arsenal played with lots of youngsters I think that they would win easier. Finally they won with 2 – 3 as well, but as I said – Standard impressed on me.

Standard was even close to bring home one point from their away game against Olympiakos in Greece. It stood 1 – 1 late in the game and Olympiakos where a bit lucky since the match winning goal came on the third and final stoppage minute.

At the same time I had more expectations on AZ then they have proved. AZ from Alkmaar has three draws in their five games but all of them have come in their home games. So they are standing on two looses away and now I think that their third away loss is on its way.

And even the motivation is on Standards side, because to play for a place in Champions League’s last 16 and European league’s last 32 is a big difference. So I pick Standard as my best pick of these eight matches and it feels good.

Another potential bet on Wednesday:

Inter Milan 1.45 draw 4.00 Rubin Kazan 7.00 – Home win @ 1.45

Even though all the teams have the opportunity to go though from this group and all of the teams risk to not go trough I am pretty sure that Barcelona will be one of two teams that goes trough.

Even though they loose with the odd goal in their match against D Kiev in the last round they will go trough. But what that would mean for this game is that this can’t end draw. If Barcelona take at least one point in the last game against Dynamo Kiev, witch is mostly possible, one of these teams will go trough.

If Rubin Kazan wins this match they are trough and if Inter Milan wins they are trough. The interesting thing is what will happen if this match ends with a draw. Because if it ends 0 – 0 or 1 – 1 Inter Milan will go through, if it ends 2 – 2 or more Rubin Kazan will go trough. BUT do not forget that if this match ends with a draw and Dynamo Kiev win their last game against Barcelona both of them will go trough and both Inter Milan and Rubin Kazan is out.

And I am pretty sure that Inter won’t take that risk to be saved by Barcelona. Inter is the better team and should win this game since they have to home advantage. And as I mentioned when I wrote about AC Milan and Juventus, Italian teams have a great ability to go trough from these kinds of situations.

All the odds are picked from bwin.com football sportsbetting

Good luck with your sportsbetting

/Amrish

The Champions League draw for this season, 2009-2010, is done and now we can just wait for the group stage to begin. Champions League is the greatest tournament for clubs in the world and all the matches are prestigious. That’s even a reason why I like to bet on that tournament. Even though many people thinks that it’s hard to find value-bets in Champions League I have another opinion.

Since all the matches means so much for all the clubs, both trough in a prestigious and economic way, my believes is that he who knows much about the teams quality and capacity has god chances to win in the length.

In this text I will give you my potential winners of CL 2009 / 2010 and write my thoughts and analyzes about some other top teams. I have chosen to split the text in two parts. In this part, 1 / 2, I will give you all the odds on the teams that have qualified to the tournament and give you my picks. And in next part I will give you my thoughts about some of the favourites that I don’t think will go all the way, and why I think so.

Here are all the odds (The odds are picked from Bwin-Champions League):

Real Madrid    4.25

FC Barcelona    5.00

FC Chelsea    7.00

Manchester United    9.00

FC Arsenal    9.00

Inter Milan    13.00

FC Liverpool    13.00

Juventus    21.00

AC Milan    21.00

Bayern München    23.00

Olympique Lyon    41.00

FC Sevilla    41.00

VfL Wolfsburg    41.00

Atletico Madrid    51.00

VfB Stuttgart    81.00

FC Porto    126.00

Olympiakos Pireus    151.00

Olympique de Marseille    151.00

Fiorentina    151.00

AZ Alkmaar    151.00

FC Rubin Kazan    251.00

CSKA Moskva    251.00

Besiktas    251.00

FC Dynamo Kiev    251.00

Girondins de Bordeaux    251.00

Glasgow Rangers    500.00

FC Zürich    500.00

Standard Liege    500.00

Maccabi Haifa    750.00

Debreceni    1000.00

Unirea Urziceni    1000.00

APOEL    1000.00

My Winners 1)

Chelsea to win Champions League @ 7.00

Premier League has been the strongest league in Europe for the last couples of years and they who don’t believe me can just look at the stats from Champions League.

Both last year and the year before that three out of four teams in Champions League’s semi-finals came from Premier League. Last year it was Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and 2007 / 2008 it was Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

2007 / 2008 even had two English teams in the final when Manchester United beat Chelsea after penalties. And don’t forget that it was just seconds ago that they went to the finals even last year. Barcelona equalized against Chelsea in the last seconds of the return and “should” have been knocked out in the semis already if there where any justice in football.

So even thought some star players have left Premier League this season and Spanish La Liga have signed lots of world class players I still think that Premier League is the best league overall.

Top 2 teams in Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid, are stronger this year then the last years. But the gap after those two teams is too big to compare with Premier League of being the best league in Europe (and the world).

I bet Chelsea as my primary winner because I find a value on that bet. They pay 7 times the bet and if you take a look on their last performances in Champions League they really deserve to win this year. Last year (2008 / 2009) they where knocked out at the second in the semi finals last year. The year before that (2007 / 2008) they ended second after that John Terry missed the last penalty (and then Anelka) against Manchester United in the finals. Even the year before that (2006 / 2007) they reached the semi finals and got knocked out against Liverpool after penalties again.

Chelsea still has their strong team from the last years and I think they have the strongest team in Premier League this season. I think the players are thirsty for a European title and think they have great chances to win this year.

My Winners 2)

Real Madrid to win Champions League @ 4.75

If I let myself pick two possible winners of Premier League 2009 / 2010 I just can’t choose to not pick Real Madrid as one of those.

Real Madrid have won the European cup (not only Champions League but totally) more times then any other opponent and have a winning tradition.

But it was long time ago that they managed to win Champions League now and that must be one of the reasons that the club / president have invested unreal sums of money on new players this year.

With new players like Christiano Rolando, Karim Benzema and Kaka in the squad forward and Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso to balance the team defensive this is one of the best club teams in Europe for the last decades. If only manager Manuel Pellegrini can keep a god atmosphere in the dressing room I think that Real Madrid will challenge for the title in May.

/Amrish

Continuities with part 2:2 just below.

In this part I will list some of the favourites and write about why I don’t they will win the champions league this year.

Fc Barcelona @ 5.00

Barcelona won this tournament last year and that’s one of the reasons that I don’t think they can win again. Manchester United had the chance to be the first team to win Champions league two times in a row since it started 1992 / 1993 (note that I am writing about Champions league in that format that is played today, and not the former European cup).

But Barcelona beat them in the finals, so no team have doubled champions league wins in a row yet. And I think it will be hard for Barcelona to win this year as well even though they might have one of the best teams in Europe.

They haven’t lost any key players before this season and have bought Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan. But I don’t think that will be enough to go all the way again. They where a bit lucky last year, when they beat Chelsea in the semi finals, and statistically I don’t think they can do the same again even thought they have a solid squad and play well.

Manchester United @ 9.00

Manchester United is, just like Barcelona, always one of the favourites to win Champions League. Not as big favourite as last year but still pretty big once. They pay 7.00 in odds if they win Champions League and that’s to low according to me.

After 3 – 4 matches in Premier League I still wonder how Man United how will they handle the loss of their best player – Christiano Ronaldo.

C Ronaldo is not only a great football player but he has also scored lots of goals for the red devils. And often when he didn’t scored goals he was an important component who often takes the free kicks, corners and so on witch results in goals.

United lost a player who totally scores about 35-40 goals each season and with his skills that he had it will be hard to replace. Besides Ronaldo they even lost a fighter in their offence in Carlos Tevez who went for the local rivals Manchester City. Even Tevez will be hard to replace with his fighting spirit and always hard working on the pitch.

Even though Sir Alex has a complete and solid team and has bought some players that will try to replace Tevez and Ronaldo, I find it hard that they can go all the way again. Actually I find it hart too se that they even can reach the final this year.

I would never play Manchester United as winner of Premier League coming season for 7.00 as payback.

Arsenal @ 9.00

Fc Arsenal has started their premier league season better then my expectations. And that might be a fact that they won’t win Champions League. Wenger and his Arsenal haven’t won any trophy in many years now and the fans are screaming for a new one.

I have to admit that I didn’t believe in Arsenal before this season started but now I at least give them a chance to fight for the title.

 They still have a young team and my feelings are that if they still are in the top of the league, their chances to win champions will reduce.

Liverpool @ 13.00

Has started the league worse then expected and Rafa Benitez have claimed that the league is more and more important for every year that goes by. Last year Liverpool was second in premier league and even though they “always” go better in European cups then home in premier League I don’t believe they have a team that can go all the way.

Inter Milan @ 13.00, Ac Milan @ 21.00 and Juventus @ 21.00

I choose to put the text for all the Italian clubs under the same headline.

My reason to do that is that I think none of the teams will go far. While Premier League have gone better and better trough out the last couples of years Serie A have went the other way. Last year three English teams met three Italian team in the knock-out round and every game was won by the English teams.

Notable is that Ac Milan, always strong in European cups, didn’t play Champions League last year after have finished fifth in the league the year before. Now they are back in the best club tournament in Europe but without their best player, Kaka.

Without players like Zlatan Ibrahmovic, Kaka and so on I don’t think any of the Italian teams can compete with the best clubs in Europe. The only team that I might bet on later in the tournament, depending on how they start, is Ac Milan.

All the odds that I compare with are picked from Bwin.com soccer.

Best regards

/Amrish

And just as last year there are three out of four English teams in the semi finals. Even then it was Barcelona that broke the English wall and became the only “non-English” side to go as far as Semi-final. That year they got out kicked by Manchester United, and this year its Chelsea’s turn to try to make even this years final fully English.

Premier League is defiantly the best league in Europe (and of course in the world as well). But I’d really like to se Barcelona in this years final. Not because of that I support them nor because I have anything against Chelsea. The only reason why I hope for Barcelona to go to the finals is that I want to se a Champions League final with two teams from two different countries.

Today I am going to try to give you my best pick for today’s game between Barcelona vs Chelsea in this blogg:

Barcelona vs Chelsea, home win @ 1.60

I try to hold apart my personal feelings from my betting picks when I place a bet. But in this game I really give Barcelona good chances to win and put the pressure on Chelsea before the second game at Stamford Bridge next week.

It seemed like the Spanish players had this game in their minds already against Valencia in their last league game seen to their performance and attitude. They almost played with their best team but still they players looked a bit lost and didn’t went in to the fight with 100 % attitude.

Chelsea won against West ham in a game that was very lucky for them. Beside a penalty-miss from Hammers the Chelsea keeper Petr Cech made lots of great saves and won the game for his Chelsea almost alone.

Chelsea is a strong team at the moment and since their new manager (Guus Hiddink) came to the club they have shown great strength in both Premier League and Champions League. But Barcelona has shown same strength trough out the season and are magical to watch at their best moments. Leo Messi is probably the best player in the world right now and if he is good he can win matches for Barcelona on his own.

My guess is that Chelsea is going to try to defend as far as possible to keep 0 – 0. Probably they think that even if they loose with 1 – 0 they have good chances to turn the game to their favour at home. Barcelona on the other side defiantly is going for an early goal and put some pressure on their opponents just as they did against B Munich in the Quarter finals. And if they can play with same power of attacking football as they showed back there I think that no team can beat them this year. Not even Chelsea or Manchester United.

I assume that the teams will start with following line-up:

Barcelona:

Valdes, Dani Alves – Puyol – Márquez – Abidal , Yaya Touré – Xavi – Iniesta ,Henry – Eto’o – Messi

Chelsea:

Cech, Bosingwa – Alex – Terry – Ivanovic,  Ballack – Essien – Lampard, Anelka – Drogba – Malouda

If I compare the players against each other I think that the Spanish side is the stronger one. As I wrote before, I have big respect for Hiddink on Chelsea’s bench. But I still think that Barcelona’s going to win this game thanks to their home advantage.

The odds are picked from Bwin-football-odds.

Good luck

/Amrish

Eight teams remaining and they are all four games away from the final at Rome, and five games from the trophy.

Totally four of eight teams that are remaining in the tournament is from England (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea). We have two teams from Spain remaining (Barcelona and Villarreal) and the two teams remaining is from Portugal (F C Porto), Germany (Bayern Munich).

The first two Quarter finals will be played Tuesday 7^th of April (Manchester United vs. Porto and Villarreal vs. Arsenal) and the other games will be played the following days, 8^th of April, (Barcelona vs. B Munich and Liverpool vs. Chelsea).

Here are my thoughts for the first two games:

Manchester United vs. Porto, Home win @ 1.35

Manchester United was favourites to win Champions League before the draw and are even bigger favourites now after the draw. In my mind five of the eight remaining temas have a realistic chance to win this tournament (Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and B Munich). Beside Manchester United all the others was drawn into same half. This means that the door to the final is very open for Man Utd.

This first game against Porto is played home at Old Trafford and I can’t se how the Portuguese side is going to threat in this game. They have done a great job passing through the first knock out round by a win against Atletico Madrid, but Manchester United is the toughest possible opponent.

While the first game is played at Old Trafford my guess is that United will try to finish this game here by a 2 – 3 goal win, and that’s not an impossible outcome. With players like Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Carlos Teves, Demitar Berbatov on their attacking side United have several potential match winners.

Porto will probably try to hold on 0 – 0 as long as they can manage and focus on their defence. But against an opponent like Manchester United its hardly impossible to hold on that for a whole game. So I start this Champions League betting with Manchester United as my sure Pick of day one.

Villarreal vs. Arsenal, home win @ 2.40

Villarreal won against the Greek side Panathinaikos in the first knock out stage while Arsenal beat Roma. But Arsenals win came after penalty shoot outs. They deserved to win that shoot out since they where the better side against Roma.

Villarreal showed a great strength by winning in Greece, and that win should not be underestimated.

My guess here is that Arsene Wenger will try to lock the central midfield in this game. Because I think that he has big respect for Villarreal’s offence.  Giuseppe Rossi and Sati Cazorla has shown that they are world class players and if they get some chances its defiantly going to be at least one goal.

With the home advantage I pick Villarreal as winners here and 2.40 is an ok odds.

The odds are picked from Bwin-football.

Best luck

/Amrish

All games are “alive” since none of the first matches ended with more then one goals difference. Three out of this four games (Inter vs. Manchester United 0 – 0, Lyon vs. Barcelona 1 – 1 and Porto vs. Athletic Madrid 2 – 2 and went draw last time and I think that all of these three home teams has a big advantage in this rematches. In the last game Arsenal defeated Roma, in London, with 1 – 0.

Here are my best picks of today’s Champions League games:

Barcelona vs. Lyon, home win @ 1.35

Even if the odds can seem a bit low (for a Champions League match) I think that this will be a pretty easy win for the Spanish team.

Barcelona is defiantly the better side and home at Camp Nou they have a solid and offensive game. Lyon is not a bad side, not at all, but I don’t think they can compete with Barcelona in this match. I think that this should bee an easy win for the home side and that’s why I pick this as the best bet today!

Roma vs. Arsenal, draw @ 3.15

After 1 – 0 at home for Arsenal they have a small advantage in this rematch. Roma is a strong side home in Rome, but they have lots of injuries in today’s game, and lots of the players are ordinary in their starting line-up.

Arsenal won at Emirates and necessary don’t have to win today, I think that Wenger will start with more defensive positions and wait for Roma to attack. Without players like Totti, Vucinic and De Rossi Roma wont be able to put Arsenal under pressure as they could have done with this players on the pitch. So I think that this game will end with a draw, and it pays 3.15 in odds.

Manchester United vs. Inter Milan, away win @ 5.00

I know that many people think I am crazy when I pick Inter as my winner here. Especially after the first game where Manchester united was way better then Inter and deserved to win.

But even though I think that united have great chance to win this game I can’t motivate my self to pick them as winners when they pay 1.65 against Inter.

Inter have worldclass players in their squad as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dejan Stankovic, Eseteban Cambiasso, Patrik Viera, Julio Cesar, Maicon and so on. And even though Manchester United seems better in every position at the moment you shouldn’t underestimate a team with Mourinho on the bench and these players on the pitch.

So even though I think that United will win this game I place my bet on Inter because of the higher odds value.

Porto vs. Athletic Madrid, home win @ 2.10

The first game ended 2 to 2 and that means that Porto goes trough even with 1 – 1 or 0 – 0. But I still think that they will go for the win today, and I sure think that they have good chances to win home at Estádio do Dragão.

I really don’t know why I am so sure that Porto will win this game. Because Athletic Madrid are in great form after their win against Barcelona (4 to 3) and draw against Real Madrid (1 to 1) in the two last league games. But something tells me that Porto will make this. Low stake recommended though.

All the odds are picked from football odds at bwin.

Good Luck with your betting today wishes/Amrish

Today’s games are Inter vs. Manchester United, Arsenal vs. Roma, Atletico Madrid vs. Porto and Lyon vs. Barcelona with all the group winners starting away. You can always follow the matches by checking free live scores provided by many sports sites.

I will give you my best betting advice for these four games that are scheduled today.

Inter vs. Manchester United, Draw @ 3.25

This is the biggest game of them all in this round and whole Europe’s focus is on this game.

My thoughts are that Manchester United is the better and stronger side here but Inter are hard to beat when they are playing home in Milan and Giuseppe Meazza. Most of the talk before this game is focused on the injury problem that Manchester United have on their defenders. One thing is for sure, Nemanja Vidic is defiantly going to miss this game because of his suspension. The fact that Nemanja will miss this game is a big loss for his team since he’s one of the best defenders in the world right now.

Then we have “injuries” on Gary Neville, Rafael Da Silva, Wes Brown, John Oshea, and Jonathan Evens. But since Evens and Oshea are included in Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad I have a feeling that they will be able to play today.

Inter has a strong team in their attacking play. Players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano, Dejan Stankovic and Muntari, Julio Cruz, Balotelli and so on they have several options forward. But the defence has been their weaker link trough the season. Lucky for them that goalkeeper Cesar is reliable.

My guess is that United are stronger then Inter but that they are satisfied with a draw away and will go for that. That’s why I bet on x here.

Arsenal vs. Roma, home win @ 1.90

Arsenal is not going that well in Premier League and has difficulties with their attacking play.

Roma was way after the top in the beginning of Serie A but have played better lately and are approaching towards the top.

I think that Arsenals chance to go further in this tournament is to start with a win today. Even though Arsenal has difficulties in the league my guess is that they will succeed in Champions League. That’s have they have been going the last years and they defiantly have enough strong team to beat Roma. I put my bet on the home win here and am hopeful with that.

Lyon vs. Barcelona, away win @ 1.90

Some weeks ago Barcelona was unstoppable in the Spanish League but in the latest rounds they have lost some points to the rivals in the top of the league. But they still have a big lead and don’t have to worry for Real Madrid (yet).

Lyon is a good team and is strong at home. But today they have to tough challenge. One of the best teams in Europe is standing on the other side and even though Barcelona maybe are satisfied with a draw I think they have a god chance to win.

Athletic Madrid vs. Porto, draw @ 3.30

I think that many people think that the Spanish side will take a pretty easy win here, but I have a big respect for Porto. Even though the Portuguese League is way worse then the Spanish Porto always makes god result in European cups.

Athletic hasn’t been going well in the Spanish league and have a tough challenge in this game. Two teams with great offence and maybe lots of goals here, my pick is the draw.

All the odds are picked from Bwin Sports odds

/Best regards Amrish