Picks and tips for betting in Champions League

Braga vs Partizan – Champions League 

The Portuguese runner-up Braga faces the Serbian three-time champion in a match of strong emotions.

In fact there are several ingredients that make this game special and even dramatic, starting with the very strong desire that Braga has to affirm itself in Europe and prove they are worth much more than what they showed in the first two matches of the group. Other factors that could ignite the atmosphere around the game are the return of goalkeeper Stojkovic to Braga after a controversial gesture he made to the fans when he represented the Red Star of Belgrade and also some apprehension about the Serbian supporters after the recent Read More

Roma vs Basel – Champions League 

The champions of Switzerland, Basel will go to Rome in to play the third round of Group E of Uefa Champions League.

After the last season, where Roma finished the league in 2nd and fighting for the tittle until the last round, they had more aspirations for this season.

These expectations were made in base of the hirings the team made; Claudio Ranieri got some good players, for the defense Cicinho and Nicolas Burdiss, in the midfield Fabio Simplicio and Read More

Spartak M vs Chelsea – Champions League 

A game between the leaders of Group F. Spartak Moscow and Chelsea have already prouve that they have great quality defending.

The home team, Spartak Moscow, is in a good streak and they don’t lose in 8 games and they have been very good in defense. They are in a group where they weren’t favourites to get in the next stage; however after the victory against Marseille in France they change that. Against Zilina they won with an easy 3 – 0. Despite the 27 goals suffered in championship, they haven’t suffered any goal in this competition. Against Chelsea and playing at home hey will have a difficult game, but I believe that they can get a positve result Read More

Bayern Munchen vs Cluj – Champions League 

Game of the third round of Group E of Uefa Champions League where Bayern Munch plays at home against Cluj. If the home team wins this game they get in the next stage, while the away team gets in a very hard position if they lose. I think that Bayern is the favourite and they have all to win the three points.

Bayern Munchen is the leader of the group with 6 points after a 2 – 0 win against Rome and 2 – 1 against Basel. Despite they are not very well in the championship, the truth is that this team is dangerous (they are the vice champions) and they got two victories in two games. I Read More

Ajax vs Auxerre – Champions League 

In this game, Auxerre is moving to Holland to play against Ajax.

Ajax is currently second in Dutch league with 10 points. Their home record is 4 wins and 1 loss. In these five games scored thirteen goals and suffered four. Ajax won last championship game, against NAC and thus ended a series of two games without a win.

In the Champions League the team has already one point, tied 1-1 when they received Milanand they had one lost in Read More

Arsenal vs Shakhtar D – Champions League 

Game of the third round of Uefa Champions League where Arsenal will play at home against Shaktar Donetsk. The two leaders of the Group H will face and is expected a very good match. I am sure that both teams want to take the leadership and a victory on this game also means a place in the next stage. I believe that Arsenal show why they are favourites and get the 3 points.

Arsenal is in the first place with 6 points with two victories, a 3 – 1 away victory against Partizan and a 6 – 0 win against Braga. They are not in a good shape in the championship; however in Champions they are very well. They are a very strong team at home, particularly in this Read More

Real Madrid vs Milan – Champions League 

The big game of this Champions League Stage. Santiago Barnabéu will receive a game that can be one Champions League Final. Face to face will be, only the clubs which have in their showcases, the most trophies of this competition.

Real Madrid with nine titles (1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1965-66, 1997-98, 1999-00, 2001-02)

AC Milan with seven titles (1962/63, 1968/69, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1993/94, 2002/03, 2006/07)

A great game in perspective with really great players from both sides, and a national presence with Portuguese Read More

Panathinaikos vs Copenhagen – Champions L 

Even without Seitarides, Cedric Kanté, Sidney Govou and Antonis Petropoulos, it seems to me that Panathinaikos is too much for the Danish team to handle. And the odds for the win are pretty good.

With 60.000 fans supporting them we can’t think in the 5-1 they take in Now Camp. We should see that Copenhagan won at home against Rubin and a positive result Read More

Rangers vs Bursaspor – Champions League 

The Turkish team, Bursaspor, comes from a home defeat against Valencia, which forces him to make a good result in Glasgow. In its league, Bursaspor is unstoppable and leads the league with five wins in five games, resulting in eight goals scored and only one suffered. The team of Bursa have players of great quality, such as Volkan Sen, Gökçek Vederson and Ozan Ipek, which give them guarantees of being able to fight on equal terms in most stadiums in Europe. The Turks are living a historic moment in the Champions League and need to win the Scottish to keep alive the dream of making through the knockout phase.

On the Protestants side, Rangers, similarly to its rival, is in good form, the blues of Glasgow leads the Read More

Valencia vs Man United – Champions League 

Match from the second round of the Champions League. Valencia hosts Manchester United.

Valencia without David Villa and Silva is doing an excellent season. The team leads the league with 13 points. Valencia is on an unbeaten streak and comes from an away win over Sporting Gijon by 0-2. In the first game for the Champions League the team defeated Bursaspor 4-0.

Manchester United is not in good form, Alex Ferguson is always changing the team and that Read More

Inter vs Werder Bremen – Champions League 

Inter was the winner of last Champions League, this year they made their debut with a 2-2 draw against Twente. On the last game of the Italian championship they have lost to Roma by 1-0.

The team needs the victory or they will be on a bad situation on the group. For this match they may not count with Milito and Pandev, besides Thiago Motta and Read More

Tottenham vs Twente – Champions League 

Tottenham which ended on the 4th place in the Premier League last season, where he knocked the newly millionaire Manchester City and always great, but in crisis, Liverpool and ended up with the last spot in the Champions League,is hosting the Dutch champion, Twente who also knocked a giant last season, leaving Ajax 2nd in the championship and winning the title for the first time. The game will be at White Hart Lane (London).

TODAY

Tottenham was, in the 2nd half of last season, a team that I liked to watch. Reaching the Final of the English League Cup where he was beaten by Man Utd and Read More

Braga vs Shakhtar Don – Champions League 

2nd game in group H. In one side, Domingos Paciencia’s tema, playing his debut in the Champions League. On the other side, and experienced team in the european competitions, which is a tough team against major clubs, having even won the Supercup against Man. Utd. 2 years ago.

Braga, after taking care of Celtic and Sevilla, showed some capability to win games in this competition. It’s a very strong team at home and hasn’t lost quite a while ago.

This season has just 2 defeats agains FCPorto and Arsenal in 2 straight games, but they want to forget their defeat at London and try to win this game to raise their hope on the qualifying to the next Read More

Auxerre vs Real Madrid – Champions League 

Auxerre had a brilliant carrer last season in Ligue 1, but this year did not start in the best way for the french team.

They were only able to make 5 points in 7 games for the championship, from 5 ties and 2 defeats. Auxerre is still waiting for the taste of victory this year.

The only official victory this year was against Zenit at the Champions League Groups Playoff, after losing 1-0 at the first game. They won at home, eliminating Zenit after the previous defeat. I recall that Read More

Basel vs Bayern Mün – Champions League 

Game from the second round of Group E of the Champions League with Basel hosting the vice-European champion Bayern Munich.

A different game for each team, as in the 1st round they had different results. This game will have more importance for the home team, because a defeat here could mean the end of their participation in this competition.

On the other side is the mighty Bayern, looking for the best form and also a fast qualification in the group. I expect a close game where the German superiority will be felt.

Basel is in the 3rd position of the group, after the defeat to Cluj 2-1 away from home. It was a game where they were already losing 2-0 at the 13 minutes Read More

Ajax vs Milan – Champions League 

Ajax and AC Milan are in the ‘Group of Death’ along with Real Madrid and Auxerre.

Any point won is valuable for achieving the objective of passing to the next stage of the competition, AC Milan won 0-2 at Auxerre in the first round and Ajax lost 2-0 against the group favorite, Real Madrid.

Milan, who is always a candidate for the Italian title is a little below expectations with only 8 points from Read More

Spartak Mos vs Zilina – Champions League 

This game can be absolutely decisive for Spartak Moscow. After the brilliant victory against Marseille at the Velodrome, a home victory in front of the modest Zilina can put the Russians in an excellent position to the second phase of the Champions League.

Spartak is having a season below expectations in the Russian League. They are in the 6th place after 20 games.

The truth is that they have an excellent group of players. Welliton is a fantastic goal scorer with 16 goals in 20 games for the league, and with Read More

Bayern Munich vs Roma – Champions League 

Benfica vs Hapoel Tel Aviv – Champions LeagueGroups E’s first round game with Bayern Munich hosting AS Roma. A great game at sight, between two teams with a good european tradition.

Bayern Munich’s team hasn’t started the way they hoped for in the Bundesliga (1 Loss, 1 Draw, 1 Win) but is always a strong team to take in consideration. Last year they got to the final and certainly this year’s objective is the same. It’s a very strong team playing at home setting a fast pace in the game. In this match they will control the game most of the time and will have to find ways to pass the Roma’s defense and get to the goal. They should be aware of Roma’s counter-attack, which is strong, and also from set pieces. Bayern will have to play a patient game, which Read More

Arsenal vs Braga – Champions League 

Benfica vs Hapoel Tel Aviv – Champions LeagueLondon will stage the debut of Braga in the Champions League and Arsenal will be the host. Braga qualified for the Champions League after “surprising” Europe eliminating Sevilla, super favorite, having even won in Sevilla by 4-3. I say surprising in quotation marks because for us Portuguese who saw Braga play last season knew that the exaggerated favoritism Seville was attributed was more because of it’s name than his current form.

In this game Braga will have a far more difficult opponent, Arsenal is one of the major European teams and is having a great season start, after drawing the first game 1-1 at Anfield Road against Liverpool, they won all games, thrashing Blackpool 6-0 and Bolton 4-1 in home games. Last season Arsenal won 5-0 to Porto in the Read More

Benfica vs Hapoel – Champions League 

Benfica vs Hapoel Tel Aviv – Champions LeagueFavorite in poor shape …

Benfica is having one of the worst championship’s starts in the club’s history and must overcome this negative streak despite agreeing that the last game was clearly hampered by the referee.

Jorge Jesus will want to debut in the Champions League winning and even more for being at home. Despite the demoralization of the team, we all know Read More

Braga vs Celtic – Champions League 

Looking back to the pre-season, Braga seems a better prepared team than Celtic and has twice the number of games played and with satisfactory results.

Braga held eight games, winning the six first games and losing the last two. The Celtic team held four games and only won one and tied another.

Both teams lost some key players from last season but they have been strengthened in all sectors with the acquisition of new Read More

Bayern M vs Inter – Champions League Final 

We arrive to the game that all the teams expect to play. This year will be Inter and Bayern who will play for the European title. This will be a clash between two of the biggest teams in football that have been away from the big European titles in the last years. The last appearance of Inter Milan in a European final was in 1997/1998 in Uefa Cup, and they won the competition. Inter has already won two Uefa Champions League in 1963/64 and 1964/65. Bayern has also been distant from the biggest European stages, but not for so many time like Inter Milan. They have won the competition in four occasions (1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76 and 2000/01).

It will be a confrontation between two giants that have been asleep in European competitions. These two teams weren’t considered the major favourites in the start of the competition, because in the last years they didn’t achieve this phase of the competition and they weren’t showing capacity to achieve it in the beginning, but the truth is that they are in the game. Both teams have suffered a revolution in the squad in the start of the season. Another curious fact is that José Mourinho will face his former teacher, Van Gaal when they were in Barcelona. We can conclude that are two managers that know each other very well. We will have a final between Read More

Barcelona vs Inter – Champions League 

Comparing the list of the last two games of the Inter of Milan, we can see that only Zanetti, Eto’o and Julio Cesar did the two games completely. One it’s goalkeeper, the other is a veteran with an exceptional quality and the other it’s a striker still with lot to give.

Mourinho had to fix the wings on the defence, with the injury of Maicon and Chivu had his chance, so motivation won’t be a problem in this match. In the centre of the defence we will see again Walter Samuel and Lúcio that will play together after the rest that was given by Mourinho. The three midfielders that have played against Barcelona rested in the last game, talking now about the front players, Sneidjer just played the first half and Milito was replaced around the 80 minute against Read More

Lyon vs Bayern Munich – Champions League 

Second hand of the Champions League semi-finals. This time it’s Lyon who will play at home and they receive the German team Bayern Munch. The German team won the first game by 1 –0 with the goal scored by Arjen Robben. Like the first game, I expect a balanced game that will be decided by small factors. I predict a well-played game and the team that handles better with the pressure will be the winner.

He home team Bayern Munich just think in this qualification, in the championship they are very far from the top. If this team gets throw the final, they will play their first Champions League final in their Read More