Champions League: 26th & 27th August 2008

[bagzi_cg]

Basel - V. Guimarães (INT - Champions League - Qualification)


FC Basel is well into the Swiss league season and doing very well so far, 6-0-1, top of the league, won all four games at home. they also knocked-out IFK Goeteborg in previous round of qualifications and got 0:0 in away leg at Guimaraes. FC Basel squad is solid and features good Swiss and abroad players. Vitoria just started the season, played fist round of Portugueses league and first leg of this CL quals, it were both draws. They were 3rd in Portuguese league last season, beaten Benfica to this 3rd place but I'm not thriled by theirsquad mostly made up from Portuguese and Brazilian players. FC Basel stadium whitnessed many great CL nights in past and they should return to it now, all they have to do is win this game and I'm siding with them here, don't see Vitoria is CL quality team.

[ultrainferno]

Unbelievable that my team plays on Anfield Road tonight!
I can tell, our players are up for it and have a lot of confidence.

From a betting way of view, I can say that Liverpool are big favourites but that 1.15 represents hardly any value for a homewin. I think that the handicap is also rather poor but all will depend from the circumstances of course. If Liverpool manages to score fast, than I'm afraid that Standard will conceed more goals.

Yes, Standard Liege needs to score but of course will not attack blindly.
Liverpool at home is much stronger than away, nevertheless I think we'll see a great match.

For me it's a no bet (as the odds on Liverpool are too poor). I just hope to see good match from our side and who knows.....

For tonight Marseille looks a sure win (as Brann is really crap away). But again, odds are poor.

[luzer]

Hi everybody
my bets for tonight are:
Bate Borisov to win
O.Marseille under 2,5
Dinamo under 2,5
GL to everybody tonight

[dandoro]

Steaua will play offensively tonight, even if their owner declared that they will play for a 0-0, this is not true, it's only to put Galata's coach in a bad position. So, my bet is both teams to score.

[Oblaka]

Originally Posted by ainsworth_21

BATE Borisov v Levski Sofia- I've looked at this match and, whilst i can understand why BATE are favourites, there must be a case for Sofia having a fair chance of a win in 90mins and therefore being value at around 6/4.

I just can't imagine a team as small as BATE being involved in the group stages in CL. Correct me if im wrong, but their ground holds about 6'000, and unless they play european ties somewhere else this is incredibly small. Of course, this is no reason to say they won't qualify, but does it not indicate that they are a very small club who have played above their means? They beat Anderlecht away, which was a good result, and i watched the game and they took their chances really well in that game.

Having read some of the previews of the match i have found that both teams have their first choich goalkeepers out, and Sofia have a new manager after the previous resigned after the first leg. Sofia won 6-0 in their last game, on the 17th, whilst BATE drew 2-2 with a mid-table team.

I'm going to stick my neck out though, and go for a Sofia win, as they have no choice but to go for the victory to progress. They are reported to be starting with 3 up front so i expect them to go all out on the attack.

--------------Kish------------------
Milanov---Rabeh---Bistron---Wagner
-----------Gadjev--M.Ivanov----------
Ze Soares--------------------Dimitrov
------------G.Hristov------------
-------------G.Ivanov----------------
Bate's goalkeeper Veremko is out,striker Bliznyuk,too.Very important missing for BATE !
In the other hand Levski sucked their manager V.Vucov/absolute idiot / and assistent Velev is the one in charge.He is the best choice at the moment...Levski's goalkeeper G.Petkov is missing,but Kish is good.......
Levski to win

[JCtips]

My picks for today:

FC Basel-Guimarães
I would love to see Guimarães go through as I like the team and I'm a fan of their coach (Manuel Cajuda) but I don't see that being possible today.
Stadium is expected to be packed with more than 25K people (only 1 thousand Portuguese supporters are expected) and Basel has a 8-1-1 in their last 10 home games, scoring at least 2 goals in 9 of those 10 matches.
On the other end Guimarães is weaker in terms of players this season, centre-back Geromel is one of the key players from last season that left the club. The other key centre-back, Sereno, is injured and won't play tonight.
Tradition is also against Portuguese clubs at this qualification stage and Benfica, Porto and Sporting have all lost to clubs like Udinese, Lazio or Anderlecht in the past.
My pick: Basel -0.5AH (1.72);

Kaunas-Aalborg
Aalborg won the first leg 2-0 but are struglling in their internal competitions with only 4 points in their last 5 games and Management thinking about bringing in new players to improve the team.
Kaunas has a 9-0-1 record in their last 10 home games (including a 2-1 win over Scotland's G. Rangers in the previous round), scored 26 goals and conceded only 6. They see some players back in the team tonight and I trust Portuguese coach Jose Couceiro might get a win here.
My pick: Kaunas PK (2.06);

Steaua Bucarest-Galatasaray
Steaua drew away in Turkey the 1st leg match 2-2 after being up 0-2.
They will miss 4 players tonight and have another 2 taking a late fitness test.
Still, they got a good away result but one that can be tricky as they might just mentally think the 0-0 will do and play for the draw...
...which would be dangerous against an more experienced team like Galatasaray.
The Turkish still have some players out due to injury but also see a couple others returning to the team and they got 2 wins (4-1 for the league and 2-1 for the Super Cup) in the games after the 1st leg match.
With many experienced players like Fernando Meira and Harry Kewell, to name a few, they have to play to win and I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to do it.
Great value at this price IMO.
My pick: Galatasaray (3.06);

Good luck!

JC

[dandoro]

Olympiakos have lost 0-3 in Cyprus and they get -2 now. Sure they have a better squad I do agree with that, but there's a lot of pressure on their shoulders at the same time. They can say good-bye to CL stages should they concede as they'd be uspposed to score 5 times which is not so easy. 3-0 is not the real picture of the first leg, the Greeks have had their chances and missed'em all, and will be surely looking to bounce back in a way or another but Anorthosis didn't look so poor to get this price for qualification considering they have a 3 goals edge. Olympiakos have got their best results in Europe at home and are known for their power when playing in front of their fans, however they've been getting those results as underdogs, when they could exploit on counters and set back in defence. Against Anorthosis it will be more difficult as it's not so easy to score against a side who'll probably defend with 10 men in their box AND stay safe at the back meanwhile. The Cypriots looked dangerous when crossing the ball from the wings two weeks ago, if they can get a chance like this I think they might produce a goal. Nevertheless I think +2 is not as good as the qualification price, worse odds but much better chances for that, greater value in my view. So, take Anorthosis to qualify, full stakes for me.

[nicko]

Originally Posted by nicko

Makes small sense that bookies are still considering Levski Sofia favourites. Sh@t happens, but if the football logic is to prevail BATE should go through - got rid of Anderlecht in confident manner, won in Sofia, with Levski only creating 2 decent chances. The result from the first leg will make Sofia play more open and I imagine those fast Belorussian forwards creating havoc in guests defence. In any case value is with hosts

Two years ago Levski somehow managed to turn the game around vs Chievo, but that was in Sofia, Levski had a decent coach and better team. I see some fellow punters backed Levski, my , but they need 2 goals now, and that providing BATE score no more - I doubt it. Will see at HT the odds for Over 2,5 goals, as Levski will go forward full force, opening themselves for BATE counters.
Good luck, Overs for me in Kiev and Marseille.

P.S While writting this Sofia scored, bit late for my Over2,5 bet
P.P.S Lucky for me no 3 rd goal was scored, nothing to regret, Kiev 2-0 up

[heretic]

Fenerbahçe have some missings tonight due to injuries;Edu, Emre Belözoğlu, Semih Şentürk and Selçuk Şahin won't play tonight. and some players of Partizan who couldn't play for the first leg(because of injuries and olympic team) are back. all in all it won't be an easy game as the odds suggest, over 2,5 is less risky to try.

[nicko]

Originally Posted by heretic

Fenerbahçe have some missings tonight due to injuries;Edu, Emre Belözoğlu, Semih Şentürk and Selçuk Şahin won't play tonight. and some players of Partizan who couldn't play for the first leg(because of injuries and olympic team) are back. all in all it won't be an easy game as the odds suggest, over 2,5 is less risky to try.

Good point, but are Partizan good enough to go forward and score? Haven't seen them playing for years...Please advice

[1907zico]

Originally Posted by nicko

Good point, but are Partizan good enough to go forward and score? Haven't seen them playing for years...Please advice

TBH, I fancy Fenerbahce not to win.

Okay they can play a 4-5-1 without Semih, but the fifth person who would enter for him in the midfield would be Emre who will miss also.
Edu is a defence player, who makes a better job than it often looks like and I think our defence will have a great disadvantage without him.
The matter why I think an over would be a great bet is once, that I think that Partizan will score atleast one goal (dont forget about our keeper Volkan ) and that Fenerbahce will want to try everything to not have a draw or a lose in Sükrü Saracoglu stadium, that again could make Partizan to score "some" more goals, if not Fenerbahce do so.

EDIT: Fenerbahce will play with Semih

Following players will form the first 11:

FENERBAHÇE: Volkan Demirel, Lugano, R.Carlos, Kazım, Alex, Güiza, Semih, Uğur, Maldonado, Yasin, Gökhan

[ainsworth_21]

BATE Borisov v Levski Sofia ends 1-1. very dissapointing and frustrating for me. home side down to 10 men for 45+ mins and levski still don't get a second. credit to the belarussians, and good luck to them in the CL- I think they'll need it.

[nicko]

Originally Posted by heretic

Fenerbahçe have some missings tonight due to injuries;Edu, Emre Belözoğlu, Semih Şentürk and Selçuk Şahin won't play tonight. and some players of Partizan who couldn't play for the first leg(because of injuries and olympic team) are back. all in all it won't be an easy game as the odds suggest, over 2,5 is less risky to try.

Good advice, well done............

[nicko]

Originally Posted by nicko

I am looking at few Overs - in Kiev ( with guests nothing to lose ), in Athens and Madrid, where the first leg results can give us furious start from both hosts ( Schalke are defending well though ), in Marseille, where hosts can easily complete the Over themselves, odds are better than those for HW AND Bergen imo improved and they also might score - it was a different Brann I saw on Sunday vs Rosenborg, far better than the boring team I saw losing the second leg in the CLQ in the previous round, to yet another good Baltic team.
Good luck
P.S. The game in Zagreb could be a better choice for an Over than the Athletic one. If Madrid are one up don't see them rushing forward to get another one, they should wait patiently, Schalke wouldn't mind/open up at level score. This same Coach was seconds away from the CL groups with Osasuna, vs another good German team, HSV. Never mind that it is this particular game that I would love to see many goals in....

4 out of 5 came right, never had the guts to bet on all 5, Kiev and Marseille good to me, plus Fener thanks to good advice from here...

[master]

Referee push Fener once again.
Champions league is only for rich club and sometimes some small club get in if they beat first referees and then opponents on field. Now that is Bate Borisov and Anothorsis.
Well done Bate,well done Anorthosis.
F..k UEFA bastards.

[ultrainferno]

Originally Posted by ultainferno

Unbelievable that my team plays on Anfield Road tonight!
I can tell, our players are up for it and have a lot of confidence.

From a betting way of view, I can say that Liverpool are big favourites but that 1.15 represents hardly any value for a homewin. I think that the handicap is also rather poor but all will depend from the circumstances of course. If Liverpool manages to score fast, than I'm afraid that Standard will conceed more goals.

Yes, Standard Liege needs to score but of course will not attack blindly.
Liverpool at home is much stronger than away, nevertheless I think we'll see a great match.

For me it's a no bet (as the odds on Liverpool are too poor). I just hope to see good match from our side and who knows.....

For tonight Marseille looks a sure win (as Brann is really crap away). But again, odds are poor.

What a fantatistic match of Standard Liege. Proud to be a 'Rouche'.
There was only one team who deserved the qualification..

Amazing support from the 3000 Liege fans by the way

[chiqo]

what a shite match by Schalke yesterday. No fight no... everything. It´ll be difficult for Fred Rutten to bring them back until saturday (vfl Bochum).

[cambrian]

Originally Posted by cambrian

liverpool 1-4 0n has to be a lay , unconvincing league form and shocking away at standard best to back X2.

dont like to say i told you so! but i told you so.

l'pool have started so unconvincing and this team lacks balance with kuyt and keane,neither are great penetrative players however as the reds have proved in previous three years you can get to the semis and final by just doing enough.
a note should be made over the next two games villa away and man u at anfield, lpool should be opposed in both combined with the draw.