Well followers and occasional glancers, it's been a while since I delved into the realms of midweek European betting on here. I have been betting myself on matches, but have found time at a premium to guide yourselves around the important ties in the 'Champions' League and the Europa League. Both competitions now enter their final throes with us at the Quarter Finals stage, and thankfully it means we can assume those in the Europa League now care. It is a tinpot cup of little or no significance anyway. I'll leave the usual rantings to the weekend and will focus on providing a tip for each match.
Inter Milan v Schalke, Tuesday 1945
Last years 'Champions' League winners Inter host Germany's Schalke in the first of the weeks matches. Inter managed to pretty much hand the title to city rivals AC on Saturday night in a 3-0 defeat. Alex Pato looking particularly impressive in scoring a brace for AC. This should leave Inter to focus on retaining this trophy and it would be some achievement in light of Rafa Benitez's best efforts to ruin Jose Mourinho's work at the start of the campaign. The useless goatie bearded Spanish prick that he is. Since the appointment of Leonardo Inter have shown signs of improvement, with Sneijder and Eto'o in particular impressing recently. Schalke have been up and down in the Bundesliga having spent big on Huntelaar, Jurado and Raul in the summer. None of these could be considered to be a resounding success, with Raul the most regular performer. I can only see an Inter win in this, but they are prohibitively short for me. I prefer Ladbrokes odds of 2.1 on Eto'o to score anytime, I'll be on that.
Real Madrid v Tottenham, Tuesday 1945
I was having a chinwag with a fellow at the office the other day about how Redknapp's stock is about to go past it's highest point here. Real Madrid will beat Spurs over 2 legs, of that there should be no doubt, and Spurs are looking very unlikely to requalify through league position. Considering the money spent on this team, wages included, they should not have gone backwards this term. Redknapp's cheerleaders will point at injuries, particularly in defence, as key to this. My retort would simply be, 'Well he bought the bunch of injury prone twats'. And he did. The droopy faced mong. Taking a punt on one out of Gallas, King and Woodgate is probably a chance worth taking. Making those 3 of your 4 centre backs is bad management, and the blame should be firmly at Sloppy Chops door. They are all unlikely to be fit for this match. Real Madrid lost, at home, at the weekend, and with that went the 9 year run of Jose's. They were without Ozil, Benzema and Ronaldo (the greasy, diving, absolute tool one), and this has to be factored in as they are all with a chance of featuring against Spuds. I really think Madrid are going to walk this. Spurs have provided plenty of entertainment this season, but a player like Ozil will make a leaky backline look like Niagara Falls given the chance. I'll again be looking to Laddies for my bet with quotes of 2.5 on Madrid winning to nil.
Chelsea v Man Utd, Wednesday 1945
The 'BIG ONE' for Sky and fans of the 'EPL', or tossers as I prefer to think of them. This has fucking horrendous match written all over it for me. United are likely to pack the midfield and play to not concede, and Chelsea are firing blanks. Having laid my opinions of David Luiz on this blog before the weekend I was not suprised to see renowned world beaters John Walters and Ricardo Fuller make him look a fool. He needs someone to sit him down and remind him defending should always be his first priority. Also if John Terry is your defensive partner, for fuck sake don't leave him exposed. United and Rooney recovered from a terrible first half performance to beat West Ham 4-2 from 2-0 down. Rooney with a hat-trick that has the press again asking if he has rediscovered his 'mojo'. He is undoubtably an above average performer, and works his arse off, but the shitty first touch is still very evident at present. The most impressive performer for me was Antonio Valencia or Hernandez. Hernandez looks like a fantastic signing and is a player I am looking forward to watching for many a season. He wont start this though so he's fairly irrelevant to the betting. I fancy a cagey start and a 2.1 qoute at Betfair for the half time draw looks reasonable to me.
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk, Wednesday 1945
The most intriguing clash for me comes from Camp Nou on Wednesday. Ukranian champions Shakhtar have a selection of hard working Eastern Europeans allied with South American flair from the likes of Douglas Costa and Jadson. With Barcelona still looking off early season form, they could be in for a tough match in what is priced as the most easy to pick Quarter Final. Shakhtar are absolutely formidable at home and Barca will need to take a lead over there if they hope to progress, in my opinion. They again looked flat in narrowly beating Villarreal in El Madrigal on Saturday evening, but they have often reserved their best performances for Europe. The players for Shakhtar will no doubt all see this as a chance to get their names in managers thoughts for the summer with a big performance, and will go in under no pressure either. I really think this is going to be an upset the more I look at it. You can get 2.78 on Under 2.5 goals at Betfair and I think that's worth doing the way Barca have played lately.
Europa League, all matches Thursday 2005
I think Porto may well win the tournament this year. They have got some brilliant players like Falcao, Hulk and Rolando that will probably move on in the summer, but have the chance to win a European tournament before they leave having tied up their league on Sunday night at Benfica. I would back all the home teams to win their matches. And I would probably hcap Porto and Kiev to do so if anyone is looking for some Thursday betting!
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