Previews

Written by Stefan DiStefano

Real Madrid vs. AC Milan

The Milan team welcome Real Madrid at the San Siro this Tuesday evening. It seems AC have finally started playing more as a team and are back in winning form. Rossoneri are in 4th place in Serie A and they have six points in CL group C, having won 3-2 at Santiago Bernabeu in the previous round. But the hosts have to perform to the best of their abilities to get a good result in this difficult match. Milan have struggled to find any consistency this season and they want to build on their last league game when they won 2-0 over Parma at home.

This season the Champions league final is in Madrid and this is a big motivation for Merengues. Of course, Real want to win the trophy at home. Moreover, over the last five years they have always been removed in the first knockout round. Madrid are in second position in group C with six points. They won 5-0 away to Zurich, 3-0 over Marseille at home and lost their last home game 3-2 to Milan. In the Primera Division they have 22 points after nine matches and are in second place. Last weekend Real beat Getafe 2-0, at home. They have won nine of the previous twelve matches against AC.

I think it will be draw and over 2,5 goals. Both teams will stay in the first two places in the group.

Written by Tomas Majernik

APOEL Nicosia vs. FC Porto

APOEL were considered to be the outsiders of Group D but their performance proved them wrong. Thrylos grabbed a surprising home draw to Atletico Madrid on matchday 1 and were then unlucky to lose to Chelsea (0:1) and Porto (2:1) by one goal each. What is more Nicosia posess a great record at home with 21 wins out of the last 25 games including the 3 wins in qualifying rounds to Streymur, Part. Beograd, and FC Copenhagen. However, coach Ivan Jovanoviæ cannot count on two Polish strikers today as Adrian Sikora and Marcin Zewlakow both miss through injury. To make it even worse influential defenders Paulo Jorge and Altin Haxhi and midfielder Kamil Kosowski are all rated as doubtful.

Coach Jesualdo Ferreira knows his team can finish In the top 2 if they beat the Cyprian side tonight and Chelsea get 3 points to Atletico Madrid. However Porto should do much better than they did two weeks ago to take something from this match. Despite the incredible number of shots on target (32), the Dragons have struggled to create goal chances and if there was no Hulk, they would probably drop the points. Hulk, who is in excellent shape at the moment, has already received his first call-up for Brazil to play in the friendlies against England and Oman. And I think he could be the man to decide this encounter. The visitors come to this match with several injuries as well, including, Diego Valeri, Fucile, Miguel Lopes and Silvestre Varela are all out while Mariano González is doubtful.

The odds around 1.60 on Porto have only a little value seeing that even Chelsea (0:1) had a tough times at the GSP Stadium. So if you are placing a bet on Porto, do it with low stakes only.

Written by Domenico Ferraro

Maccabi Haifa vs. Juventus

Juventus are very disappointed after their incredible defeat against Naples in the domestic league. Coach Ferrara held a debriefing with his players after the match to try to understand the reasons for the defeat. The president of the club, Mister Blanc, will expect some reaction from his squad in the European atmosphere of Champions league. This away game against Maccabi is crucial if they wish to continue their adventure in the Champions League.

In this game Juve will have some players missing, Marchisio, Zebina, Iaquinta, Sissoko and Salihadmizic. Camoranesi is back but Felipe Melo is out due to flu. Juve will play with only Amauri in attack, but in the second half there could be a chance for Trezeguet.

Maccabi Haifa have had a good run in the league: they obtained 8 wins in a row, and in Champions League they created problems for Bayern Munich and Bourdeaux.

In the previous game in Torino they adopted a defensive tactic although eventually Juve won 1-0 but they had to thank goalkeeper Buffon for some great saves. Juventus have experience, but Maccabi are terrible on their own pitch.

The visitors will depend on the fantastic Diego, who is called up to boost Juve after their recent difficult times. Away win at 1.60

Written by Stefan DiStefano

Atletico Madrid vs. Chelsea

The Spanish team will play host to one of the biggest favorites in the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea In this group-stage phase. A second home game in the group is very important and beating the English side would be a very good chance for the hosts to change their recent form and give their supporters something to cheer about. The hosts have only one point but in this match they will definitely be highly motivated. Their style of playing is attacking football, but they must be very careful in defence today. It will be a very hard game for them and they need to do something special to be successful tonight. The top two teams from the group go into the first knockout round and this is still the main objective for Atletico. They went down 4-0 at Chelsea in the previous round. In the Primera Divison they lost 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao and are in 18th place.

Chelsea won all three matches in the Champions League scoring 6:0. The visitors also want to win today, but they know they will face a strong team who will be determined to pick up a victory after some bad results in the recent weeks. Fans of the London team will hope that the 4-0 win against Bolton will boost their confidence and keep the club moving in the right direction. They have one of the meanest defences in Europe and are the only club yet to concede a goal in this season's group stage. In their domestic league they are in 1st place with 27 points.

The visitors are favorites but both clubs have players who can score a lot of goals...my bet is over 2,5 goals.

Written by Tomas Majernik

Besiktas vs. Wolfsburg

The morale-boosting point at the Volkswagen Arena for Besiktas leaves everything open in Group B. What is more, the draw to Wolfsburg ended the 5 game losing streak of Mustafa Denizli`s team to Bundesliga sides.

It seems the Black Eagles have recovered from their slow start this season after achieving 5 consecutive league wins whilst managing also to keep 4 clean sheets. While the defence is looking solid at the moment, the attack remains a problem. Although Besiktas are famous for their attacking approach, especially at the Inönü Stadium, they lack ideas near the box at the moment and thus don`t create that many goal chances. Filip Holosko could be an option in this situation, however the Slovak striker, remains sidelined. Therefore the fans lay their hopes on Nihat Kahveci who hasn`t yet found his shape this season. Yusuf Simsek is another player to miss this match through injury.

Despite the goalless draw, Wolfsburg were the better side against Besiktas two weeks ago. Edin Dzeko had several chances to give his side the points but he failed to net a single goal that night. And after the red card for poor Grafite in the 74th minute, it was rather easy to keep the Wolves away from the goalkeeper Rustu. However the whole picture will change today as Besiktas will be the team to control the game and Wolfsburg will have to show their consistency to take any points from this match. The in shape Obafemi Martins is expected to partner Dzeko in the attack seeing that Grafite is suspended while Karim Ziani is out due to injury.

Besiktas are one of the worst travellers of the CL (along with Celtic) but equally they are one of the best home sides. They won 8 of their last 10 games at the Inönü Stadium and so I expect them to get something tonight. Wolfsburg comes to this match after two disappointing league draws and so the odds around 2.65 for the home win are worth the risk.

Written by Konstantinos V.

Manchester United vs. CSKA Moscow

Manchester United and CSKA Moskva meet again after the 0:1 away win of the Red Devils in Luzhniki Stadium in October. This time things are easier for the Reds as they lead the group with 9 points (5 points more than second Wolfsburg) and with a win today they could guarantee their lead and of course their qualification to the next round.

The big concern for Man Utd for this game is the possible absence of Wayne Rooney whose wife gave birth to his wife earlier this week. At the same time, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Ryan Giggs are all out (suspended). At the same time, the absentee list gets even longer as Dimitar Berbatov has picked a knee injury and is very doubtful for tonight as well as Park Ji-sung who also suffers from his knee. Considering that Manchester have a massive game against Chelsea this coming Sunday, for the English Premier League, we might see a lot of changes in tonight’s line up.

CSKA need a win today in order to have chances for qualification. Wolfsburg are 1 point ahead of them in Group B and they are certainly their main competitor. Tonight, they play against Man United without Mark Gonzales, Guilherme and Sekou Oliseh who are all injured. Oliseh has not even traveled to England.

This is going to be a tough game for both teams. Manchester have a lot of absentees but they have a good quality “reserves” team. CSKA are coming to this game being desperate for a win. Considering that Manchester United will play in a conservative manner tonight, as they have the big derby against Chelsea this weekend, I see very few goals. The under 2.5 goals is offered at odds around 1.90 so it is very inviting. But be careful, do not even think of betting on the home win!!!