It’s Champions League matchday three this week and teams know they can go a long way to securing their passage into the last 16 with a vital win. On Tuesday, Chelsea and Manchester United are the Premier League representatives hoping to maintain their recent good form while there’s a mouth-watering clash for Celtic when they go to Barcelona.
Barcelona v Celtic
Probably the biggest game of the evening sees Neil Lennon’s side travel to take on the might of the Catalan giants and aristocrats of Europe.
Barcelona are, as ever, huge favourites (1/12 – match odds) to come out on top but this is unlikely to be as easy an evening as the market is suggesting for Tito Vilanova’s men, with Celtic’s 25/1 odds of winning looking just a bit too large.
Celtic, unlike in recent campaigns, have given themselves a chance of qualification with a draw at home to Benfica and a fine win at Spartak Moscow so far, but still they face a huge ask to make it into the top two in such a tough group.
However, Tuesday is one of the Bhoys’ biggest European nights for many a year – considering the way the group is finely poised after two games – and they know getting anything from the game, however hard that is, will give them a great chance of progressing and also go down as one of their best-ever results.
But this is Barca at the Nou Camp we are talking about and even the most die-hard Celtic fan will struggle to predict anything other than a home win.
Celtic would love a repeat of their 1-1 draw from 2008 when they famously earned a point in Barcelona and, again at long odds of 11/1, the draw is tempting to back on Tuesday.
Don’t be fooled though, Barca have much more quality than the SPL champions – even if boss Vilanova opts to rest a few regulars – and a fairly comfortable 2-0 home win is our prediction.
Prediction: Barcelona 2 Celtic 0 at 6/1.
Manchester United v Braga
United’s home game with Portuguese side Braga should be a straightforward evening for the Premier League giants at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have won their first two games in the Champions League so far and should have too much for Braga as they look to make it three wins out of three (1/3 in the match betting) and take a big step towards a last-16 place.
United have not yet been at their best this season and have looked rusty, inconsistent and less than watertight at the back in certain games to offer Braga hope of a shock victory (9/1) or draw (4/1).
But they were surprisingly beaten 2-0 at home by relative minnows CFR Cluj on matchday one before restoring pride with an impressive 2-0 win over Galatasaray in Turkey last time out. That suggests they are a side difficult to predict and on their day a match for most but, on this occasion, a defeat looks very likely.
Prediction: United 3 Braga 0 at 8/1.
Shakhtar Donetsk v Chelsea
The final game involving a British side sees in-form Chelsea make the tricky journey to Ukraine to tackle a Shakhtar side (6/4 in the match betting) who are fast emerging as a side to fear in Europe.
Mircea Lucescu’s men are, like the Blues, sitting pretty at the top of their domestic league but boast a perfect P12 W12 record so far, while they are also in with a chance of progressing out of the Group after seeing off newcomers Nordsjaelland 2-0 before claiming a very creditable 1-1 draw against Juventus in Turin on matchday two (Draw v Chelsea – 12/5).
Both sides know, with Juve lurking and likely to claim one of the top two places and qualification, that this is a big night. A potentially-pivotal win for Roberto Di Matteo’s men then, on offer at 15/8, is worth backing but don’t expect it to be easy for the reigning European champions.
Shakhtar are very dangerous and goals look likely but we fancy the Londoners to turn in another efficient and stylish display and run out narrow victors.
Prediction: Shakhtar 1 Chelsea 2 at 10/1.
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Another exciting weekend of La Liga action is rounded off on Monday with a mouthwatering clash between European hopefuls Sevilla and Real Mallorca (Sevilla 4/7, draw 3/1, Mallorca 9/2 – Match Betting).
This weekend, the Premier League serves up not one but two mouth-watering derbies, the second of which takes place on Wearside on Sunday as Sunderland host Newcastle. The Black Cats have a terrible record in north-east derbies but can they set that straight this time? Also in action are winless QPR, who play host to high-flying Everton.
терять очки практически во всех оставшихся матчах. Отставание от «Барсы» в восемь очков не дает возможности не то что расслабиться, но даже подумать об этом. Так что ни на какой результат кроме победы «сливочные» не настраиваются.
Spanish football continues this Sunday with five games taking place in La Liga, in the pick of those second place Atletico Madrid (25/1 La Liga outright) travel to Real Sociedad.
стартовал в чемпионате России и все негромко, но уже начали восхищаться тренерским гением Унаи Эмери, но прошло какое-то время и два подряд поражения от «Селтика» и ЦСКА уже ставят под сомнение квалификацию испанского специалиста.
The Championship action continues on Saturday with a number of intriguing clashes including the derbies between Midlands pair Birmingham and Leicester (4/1 joint favourite – Championship outright) and Lancashire duo Burnley and Blackpool.
The focus of attention now returns to Premier League duty following the international break with a hectic Saturday schedule to get stuck into, kicking off with a mouth-watering London derby.
Former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock is sure to receive a hot reception on Friday evening when he takes his Leeds United team back to the city to play Sheffield Wednesday (Sheff Wed 5/4, draw 12/5, Leeds 21/10) but will he have the last laugh and come away from Hillsborough with the points?
Following the World Cup qualifiers over the past week, the European groups are beginning to take shape with a feel for who is now likely to make it to Brazil in 2014 emerging. Here, we assess how the home nations’ chances look after the early games.