CL semis 24-25/4 (1st leg)

[Tulenos]

Tuesday 24 April 2007
	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
Man Utd v AC Milan (19:45 BST)	2.20	3.25	4.33	100%	Related markets...Match ResultAsian HandicapHalf-time/Full-timeCorrect ScoreFirst GoalscorerNext GoalscorerAnytime GoalscorerLast Goalscorer - - -Qualify1st Half Total GoalsBookings PointsBoth Teams To ScoreClean SheetCornersCorners Match BetDouble ChanceDraw No BetFirst Corner Team 1st HalfFirst Corner Team 2nd HalfFirst Goal TimeFirst Team to ScoreHalf with Most GoalsHalf-time Correct ScoreHalf-time ResultHandicap ResultHat-Trick ScoredLast Team to ScoreNext Team to ScoreOdd or Even TotalOver/UnderPenalty AwardedRed CardSubstitutions UsedTo Score a Hat-trickTotal Goals
Wednesday 25 April 2007
	Home	Draw	Away	BPP
Chelsea v Liverpool (19:45 BST)	2.20	3.20	4.30	100%	Related markets...Match ResultAsian HandicapHalf-time/Full-timeCorrect ScoreFirst GoalscorerNext GoalscorerAnytime GoalscorerLast Goalscorer - - -Qualify1st Half Total GoalsBookings PointsBoth Teams To ScoreClean SheetCornersDouble ChanceDraw No BetFirst Corner Team 1st HalfFirst Corner Team 2nd HalfFirst Goal TimeFirst Team to ScoreHalf with Most GoalsHalf-time Correct ScoreHalf-time ResultHandicap ResultHat-Trick ScoredLast Team to ScoreNext Team to ScoreOdd or Even TotalOver/UnderPenalty AwardedRed CardTo Score a Hat-trickTotal Goals

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[Robijas]

Man Utd - Milan - under 2.5

The importance of this game is too huge and both team wil try to take control over the game..Man Utd will try to win but not to receive a goal..Milan will also be very happy with 0-0 or if can score one goal..It is hard to predict wich team will win but i think that will not be a game with many goals..

Chelsea - Liverpool - home win

With this 0-0 agaisnt New Castle ,Chelsea clearly showed that have big interess in champions league..I think that all they want from this season is final in champions league and they are so close to take it..Liverpool is in great form but motivation for final will be on the home side...After 1-1 with Valencia, Chelsea learned how hard is make advantance in away game so here i expect a home win wich will secure a nice advantage for Chelsea

[avok]

Man Utd - Milan

Is hard match to predict, but I wouldn't be surprised if MU receive a sneaky away goal even lose. Draw is also very likely.

[boyd]

I fancy Man United on the half time/full time to be winning both. Milan are not what the team they were a few years ago. They lost Shevchenko and have finally replaced him with Ronaldo who is ineligible. Milans' defence is getting on a bit, and lacking pace apart from Nesta. He will be pre-occupied with Rooney, leaving Ronaldo to exploit the rest of the defence with his pace and trickery. I don't feel it will be anywhere near as convincing as Roma but United will look to fly out of the traps and put Milan under pressure to take a lead to Milan. I'm expecting a fairly early goal for United, as they have done in many games this season.

It may also be worth covering the bet with draw/ Man United too

Selection - United to be winning at half time and full time.

[QuantumParadox]

Originally Posted by Robijas

Man Utd - Milan - under 2.5

The importance of this game is too huge and both team wil try to take control over the game..Man Utd will try to win but not to receive a goal..Milan will also be very happy with 0-0 or if can score one goal..It is hard to predict wich team will win but i think that will not be a game with many goals..

Chelsea - Liverpool - home win

With this 0-0 agaisnt New Castle ,Chelsea clearly showed that have big interess in champions league..I think that all they want from this season is final in champions league and they are so close to take it..Liverpool is in great form but motivation for final will be on the home side...After 1-1 with Valencia, Chelsea learned how hard is make advantance in away game so here i expect a home win wich will secure a nice advantage for Chelsea

under 2.5 goals in my choice here ( chelsea under) despite the very low price, imo away win is not out of question, chelsea non convincing again,liverpool designed perfectly by rafa to win the champions league

Chelsea Under

bye bye

[AndyRoo18]

Ive never posted before, but im very interested in theses semi finals!

Chelsea v Liverpool
Liverpool dont usually do well at Stamford Bridge, but in recent weeks Chelsea have been far from convincing. The 2-0 Liverpool win at Anfield earlier this season could well have been more and Liverpool are in great form. I think Rafa will try and get an early goal and hold out as long as possible. Liverpool would happily take a draw back to Anfield and i think that is what will happen. I predict 1-1.

Man U v AC Milan
After losing in Italy in the first leg of the Roma game I think Man U will press forward their home advantage. I cant see them losing at home, i think they will win quite comfortably. I predict 2-0.

ps. Im a Liverpool fan

[aliando]

Originally Posted by AndyRoo18

Ive never posted before, but im very interested in theses semi finals!

Chelsea v Liverpool
Liverpool dont usually do well at Stamford Bridge, but in recent weeks Chelsea have been far from convincing. The 2-0 Liverpool win at Anfield earlier this season could well have been more and Liverpool are in great form. I think Rafa will try and get an early goal and hold out as long as possible. Liverpool would happily take a draw back to Anfield and i think that is what will happen. I predict 1-1.

Man U v AC Milan
After losing in Italy in the first leg of the Roma game I think Man U will press forward their home advantage. I cant see them losing at home, i think they will win quite comfortably. I predict 2-0.

ps. Im a Liverpool fan

to PL AndyRoo18

[888]

Sport	Football (Euro Cups)
Event	Chelsea vs Liverpool
Selection	Chelsea -0.25 (Asian Handicap)
Strength	8/10
Date	25/04/2007
Bookmaker/Price	canbet @ 1.86 (Back)
Reasoning	After the defeat in Newcastle, Chelsea EPL title hope is basically over. We all know United will have a relatively easy time in EPL with only Everton and Manchester City looks threatening for them. However, Jose would know that MU should have more than enough to win those matches. Even if Jose's team beat MU in Stamford Bridge, they will still lose due to Goal Differences if they finished on level terms. Moreover, Chelsea will still have Arsenal left in the fixture which wouldn't be an easy one and another slip-up is more than possible at the Emirates stadium. Considering those factor, we all know how important CL would be for Chelsea at this stage. It is the only major silverware that they have the highest chance to grab on. Plus, one of the most prestigious award in European Soccer that Mourinho haven't had any success with during his time with Chelsea. Motivation shouldn't be lacking here for both team as Rafa looking to get his 2nd CL trophy with the Reds. So we can expect a lively clash between the two. Squad wise, Chelsea will miss Ballack and Carvalho for this clash which is a big loss especially Carvalho who has been outstanding with Terry this season. The loss of Ballack is a big one but certainly doesn't hurt as much as Carvalho's missing figure in the team. But we shouldn't worry too much about Chelsea's missing players with Essien is more than able to deputize on the centre position alongside the like of John Terry. And Chelsea depth cover in midfield where Mourinho can apply a lot of different tactics with the players he have at his disposal. Possible Line-Up for Chelsea : Cech; Diarra/Ferreira, Essien, Terry, Ashley Cole; Lampard, Makelele/Mikel, Joe Cole, SWP/Kalou; Drogba, Shevchenko As we can see here, the lose of Ballack wouldn't hurt at all. It would be interesting though if Mourinho were to deploy SWP and Joe Cole, they could run riots Liverpool's defence. Liverpool on the other hand, will also play this one with a full team bar few long term injuries. They also have Gerrard and Mascherano rested on the weekend games against Wigan. And technically Liverpool might have slight advantage since they have 1 more day of rest compared to Chelsea. However, after weighing all factors prudently I have decided that Chelsea should edge this one. Here's why : Chelsea know that Anfield is a hard place to play and technically they should win this one to ease their path to final. With EPL seems a far way to reach, CL would be a top priority no doubt. it is true for Liverpool this is the only trophy they will fight for, but when two quality sides meet, I have to favour the home team here. With this season being possibly the last season for Mourinho despite Kenyon's attempt to end the speculation, I think Jose would like to end the season with a bang if he did leave and at least achieve everything possible during his time with Chelsea. Last but not least, Chelsea bitterly knocked out of the CL last time by Liverpool and all the players will remember how bitter the feeling, the pain and the hurt Liverpool caused to them. However that time, they still have EPL trophy to sooth their pain. This time they don't have that cushion anymore and I think this week, Chelsea boys should fight till the end of their last breath and unleash all the pain they carry for so long.

[bet2gain]

As italian I can say that AC Milan is in great shape,
the squad is running 100% and fully concentrated. Ronaldo (the brazilian one) is not avaliable in CHL, so surely Ancelotti wil opt for a more defencive style, maybe 5 mds and rapid counters (Kakà, Inzaghi), like he did in Munich. At the present time, it's hard for anyone to beat them. No doubt Manchester is a great and glorious team, just thinking of Old Trafford makes me shiver, but they miss important players and Milan has enough experience to play there. Roma's lesson is usefull for further visitors, they'll not conceed great space this time.
My prediction is Milan to run in final, if possible Vs Liverpool for an historical revenge. May I'm asking too much...

[QuantumParadox]

i see man utd's defence very weak due to injuries.

i also watched them last sat against 'boro and i am confident they are far from convincing

the " brain man" of utd is definitely cristiano ronaldo; italians are enough smart to take care of him, it is obvious that if ronaldo is not working then nothing working, here i go with max confidence :

Milan to score

Man Utd LAY

Milan to qualify

bye bye good luck

[QuantumParadox]

actually i placed my horse on a final between Liverpool milan, a repeticion one of the thrilling 3-3 two years ago, i also placed my dog on liverpool to win the champions league title, and please gerrie dont ask how much money, i tell you this... i will be survive with style in all circumstances

betting is for pleasure, not for living

[ksk1912]

Man Utd v AC Milan

We know it that Man Utd. is a goal machine in home games.
This is the first serious rival for Milan this year in CL,and the best rival...

Selection : HOME WİN


Chelsea v Liverpool

Liverpool really,really on top form and play very struggly in CL,and Chelsea out of form.They have some injured players like Roben and Ballack it will be not easy for him to win Liverpool...

Selection : X2 LIVERPOOL

[Fat-Tony]

Originally Posted by ksk1912

Man Utd v AC Milan

We know it that Man Utd. is a goal machine in home games.
This is the first serious rival for Milan this year in CL,and the best rival...

Selection : HOME WİN


Chelsea v Liverpool

Liverpool really,really on top form and play very struggly in CL,and Chelsea out of form.They have some injured players like Roben and Ballack it will be not easy for him to win Liverpool...

Selection : X2 LIVERPOOL

I am absolutly with you on both those tipps!

[Fat-Tony]

Originally Posted by avok

Man Utd - Milan

Is hard match to predict, but I wouldn't be surprised if MU receive a sneaky away goal even lose. Draw is also very likely.

For me Man.Utd. is the best Team this year they also are leading int he English-Premier-League.

And as to see there are 3 english Teams left and therefore i think it's the strongest league.

So I see a 2:0, 2:1 or 3:1 win from Manchester!!

[chsua10]

Man Utd vs Milan:

Milan at +0.5 is a good bet.

The 7-1 trashing of Roma was not surprising. Roma went to Old Trafford and played attacking football, leaving much space at the back for Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo to do the running.

I would expect Milan to keep it tight at the back and rely on the counter. Ronaldo won't be that effective if he's not given the space to run.

Hopefully Inzaghi will be playing. While United is busy attacking, he's capable of beating an offside trap to score the very much needed away goal.

[gerrie26681]

I have been a member of punterslounge for many years now, I have not posted often and have accounts that i lost and post names that i cant remember. Never though, not ever, have i disagreed with the masses more than on the match tomorrow nite.

Man Utd V AC Milan in the semi finals of the champions league. I sometimes wonder that does a bias on the betting front exist on british teams and in this instance it must surely prove it.

Let me start my argument with AC Milan. Milan played on Saturday nite at home to Calagari. They won the match 3-1 but that is unimportant. What is important it that the team that won the match. The only players that started on Saturday evening that will start the match tomorrow nite are Seedorf and Gattuso. Both of these players were taken off with 25mins left to go. Kaka, Inzaghi, Maldini, Nesta were not even on the subs bench. They were given the nite off!!!

Man Utd on the other hand, also played on Saturday. They drew 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough. A match that many might argue they could and should have lost, only for a dodgy refereeing decision(s). There is no questioning Man Utd's attacking threat, of that I cannot deny.

Man Utd's back 4 will line up tomorrow as follows: O'Shea (RB) Brown (CB) Heinze (CB) Evra (LB) or else if Evra fails to pass his fitness test it will be Fletcher (RB) Brown (CB) O'Shea (CB) Heinze (LB). For Man Utd fans I hope for their sake that Evra is passed fit, as a back four with Fletcher (RB) and O'Shea (CB) will be destroyed by Milan.

Make no mistake, Man Utds back four is incredible dodgy and vunerable. I'll repeat that cause its such an important point. Man Utds back four is incredible dody and vunerable. O'Shea I cannot understand how he remains at Old Trafford except for th fact that he is happy to be a bit part player every season. Heinze is good but he's a liability. He is clumsy and often gives away potential penalties and free kicks in dangerous areas. Brown is the best of whats available. Evra is a decent left back, however question marks surround his availablity.

Midfield, Utd have Carrick, Scholes, Giggs and Ronaldo. Milan will have Kaka, Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini and Seedorf. Watching the quarter final against Bayern the Milan midfield five were superb. As good a performance from a midfield as you could wish to see. The ball retention is superb and they will have Utd running and chasing over the course of the ninety mins. Remember Giggs is 33 and Scholes is 32. A lot of grass to cover over 90mins against a good passing team.

Defensively, Milan have Nesta and Maldini with Oddo right back and Jankaslovski left back.

I think Utds vunerability at the back will lead to numerous chances for Milan. With Inzaghi almost definitely to start upfront on his own I see Milan scoring at least once. They will score, at least once.

I cannot for the life of me see Man Utd winning tomorrow. I have laid them on Betfair and will continue to laid them until kick off. To be honest the scoreline I am predicting tomorrow nite is 2-1 to milan. I think odds of better than 3-1 on a milan win (with a weeks rest) against a back four of at best, o'shea, brown, heinze and evra, is unbelievable odds.

I cannot for the life of me see how people are backing utd to win and keep clean sheets!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before someone replies about Man Utd 7-1 Roma, let me tell you a little story. Roma centre backs are Mexes and Chivu, Milan have Nesta and Maldini. Roma's midfield four is Perrota, De Rossi, Taddei and Mancini. Milans midfield four is Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaka, and Seedorf.

Now lets be honest, player for player Milan are better than Roma!

For the records, QuantumParadox my old mate, I agreed 100% with all of your selections. Lay Man Utd, Milan to score and Milan to Qualify.

If Milan attack Utd like i expect, I can see the 2nd leg being a formality after a 2-1 win for Milan at Old Trafford

[Valianor]

Everybody is overestimating these teams at the moment but even thou forms shift from time to time , from one week to the other I believe in general that ManU at the moment is a better team then Milan at full squad. The only worrying thing is the defense which I believe never played in this lineup the whole season. ManU has allways had defensive and goalie problems and there is always a posibility that they can lose today but I don't think Milan is a team that can and will go for the goal. They will sit back and pass the ball to Kaka as the have been doing the whole season and expect him to make something out of it. There is allways a chance someone like Seedorf will appear like against Bayern but probably not today. ManU will play on the wings of the crowd and they will also pass it mostly to Christiano but I believe their attack is much better, their players much faster and mobile. It will be an old but experienced defense against a flamboyant attack, it will be Kaka against Christiano, but most importantly Ferguson against Ancelotti where I think Ferguson has an upper hand and most importantly more cojones. It will either be a goalless draw or two goal margin win for ManU.

[meatman]

I am definitely favouring Milan tonight

Man U are overestimated here IMO

@ gerrie26681 - I have to say that is a fine post and exactly what my feelings are about this match, top post mate. Man U will need Rooney and Ronaldo to be at theior absolute brilliant best tonight otherwise its goodbye CL IMO. I'd be surprised if they got a decent result in Milan.

[Youssef]

Ok... so you guys (many of you) are going against a comfortable win for Man U. Well, I see them winning by 2-0 or 3-0.

Man U may have "some" problwms at the backline, but these problems appear most obvious when they lay "British" style teams. Italian football in general does not rely on the hyper-activity of players, not is it about areal balls.

On tyhe other end, you all seem to overlook the fact that eventhough Milan has ben scoring lik crazy in Serie A, they have also been conceding more than the average in Italy. Deda's not to be trusted either, as he tends to make pretty silly mistakes every onec in a while, just like England's #1 :-(

Ferguson is a FOX, and he will know how to close the gaps in his backyard, eventhough it might be on nthe expense of his frontline. This will make a "likely to defend" Milan have littel chance to score, and while the Milanes are awaiting the 0-0 they will get hit quick and then the Devils will -again- shift their attention to organising their defence.

Now I'm not sure whether Ferguson would want to take an early lead and sit on it, or leave it till late when the Italians are comfortabley happy with the goalless game, but either way I see Man U's offense as superior to the Milanese defence, while Milan's offense is not that threatening (especially when they play defenssively).. with the mere exception of kaka, whom could very well be marked and nullified.

Liverpool.. maybe I'll talk about them tomorrow if I have the time, but in short: Liverpool will qualify and -probably- will not lose either legs.

[Jonesy Knows]

Man Utd v AC Milan - 1st leg Champions League Semi-Final

I have to admit Man Utd have been superb this season which has been long and hard for them, and now they are starting to feel the effects of it through the injuries that are mounting up. Man Utd are decimated by injuries to their backline which in truth they can compensate for in the EPL with their attack, however in CL as proven time and time again, it is the defensive capabilities of a team that leads to be successful.
My first thoughts here to the game was that Milan will defend and hope to take Man Utd back to Italy with a 0 v 0 scoreline - HOWEVER! surely this is the best time to have a right old go at Man Utd as their defence looks as solid as a wet paper bag!
We can all point to Man Utd's amazing last CL result against an Italian team, however that was Roma and Roma are NOT AC Milan, who are so much more in capabilities and experience.
The important factors here is that surely Man Utd will have the defence in the 2nd leg in Milan so I see Milan knowing this and their aim will be to exploit this factor.
Milan will have much fresher legs also due to resting their players at the weekend!



Player and disciplinary info Patrice Evra, Gabriel Heinze, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes (Man. Utd) and Paolo Maldini (AC Milan) will be suspended for the second leg if they receive another caution.

It is also inevitable here that Milan will look at Man Utd's players who are a card away from a ban! and what better way to take Man Utd back to Milan without Scholes and Ronaldo!!! You bet your bottom dollar here that Milan will paying special attention to rough these 2 up during this game as they are not the most disciplined of players.

I think Milan will come away from Old Trafford here with at the very least a goal lead and at least 1 player from Scholes and Ronaldo not playing in the 2nd leg!