Tag Archives: Favourites

Back to business for favourites

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After Thursday’s heroics in the Super Cup, the big two in Spain are back in action on Sunday as Barcelona (4/5 favourite La Liga outright) face a difficult trip to Osasuna, while Real Madrid are involved in a local derby at Getafe.

Despite a number of claims to the contrary by their rivals, it looks as if the La Liga title race will once again be a straight fight between the pair and despite it still being so early in the campaign, their results on Sunday could have a huge bearing on the outcome of the season.

However, despite their class, they certainly won’t have it all their own way, most notably Barcelona who have traditionally struggled in Pamplona (Osasuna 10/1, draw 11/2, Barcelona 2/9).

Osasuna are currently one of the success stories of Spanish football due to them having managed to stabilise themselves in the top flight, despite their lack of resources.

Their achievements has often been built around transforming rough diamonds into stars and Jose Luis Mendilibar’s men will be desperate to prove themselves after losing their opener against Deportivo.

Following a summer of speculation following Pep Guardiola’s departure, it appears to be business as usual at the Nou Camp and so far the Blaugrana have looked almost imperious, most notably in their 3-2 win over Real Madrid on Thursday.

Boss Tito Vilanova has continued with his predecessor’s tactics and will once again expect his team to dominate at El Sadar.

Despite the difference in quality between the two sides, this will undoubtedly be a close one but Barcelona should just sneak through (Barcelona 8/1 to win 2-1).

The second big game of the night sees minnow Getafe take on their illustrious neighbours Real Madrid at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez (Getafe 8/1, draw 4/1, Real 1/3).

After taking the league by storm in 2004, the Azulones have slowly slipped down the standings in recent years and once again look set for another season of struggle.

However, they always rise to the occasion against their local rivals and will fancy themselves to cause an upset on Sunday.

Perhaps surprisingly, Madrid have failed to get anywhere near their heights of last season in their two matches so far and were quite frankly dominated by Barcelona earlier this week.

Following their draw with Valencia last Sunday, Jose Mourinho’s men will be desperate to get their first win of the season under their belts as they prepare for the second leg of the Super Cup on Wednesday.

This looks likely to be a cagey affair in the opening stages but it’s hard to ignore Real’s class and they should eventually record a comfortable victory (Madrid 7/1 to win 3-0).

Elsewhere on Sunday, there’s an Andalucian derby as Granada host Sevilla, while in the late match Valencia will expect to take the points against Deportivo.

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Home favourites to struggle

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Spanish football is well and truly back and Monday sees what promises to be superb doubleheader, as recently promoted Deportivo La Coruna take on Osasuna, while Rayo Vallecano face Granada.

With all four sides being known for their inconsistency, it’s sure to be an exciting evening and there’s sure to be plenty of goals.

Perhaps the pick of the two fixtures will be the early game between last year’s Segunda Division champions Deportivo and possible La Liga surprise package, Osasuna, at the Riazor (Deportivo evens, draw 12/5, Osasuna 13/5).

After winning the title in 2000, Depor have slowly declined and following years of difficulty, were finally relegated at the end of the 2011 season.

However, after clearing out a number of their squad, they dominated in the second tier, eventually finishing six points ahead of their nearest rivals.

They will be looking to carry their form into the new season but much will depend on the quality of veteran Juan Carlos Valeron.

The former Spanish international is the only remaining veteran of the championship winning side and will be looking to inspire his team to victory on Monday.

On the other hand, Osasuna are one of the success stories of the last few years, defying the odds to consistently challenge for European football, despite their lack of resources.

This summer they have once again invested wisely, with their best signing looking to be the loan acquisition of Joseba Llorente, who could finally provide Los Rojillos with a the consistent goal threat they’ve missed over recent years, so look out for him to be on target on Monday.

This one looks almost too close to call and in what is certain to be an end-to-end game, Osasuna’s extra class may just see them through (Osasuna 17/2 to win 1-0).

The later game sees Granada travel to the capital to take on cash-strapped Rayo Vallecano (Rayo 6/5, draw 9/4, Granada 11/5).

Once again, Rayo have been blighted by financial problems and their squad has been seriously depleted, most notably with the exit of last term’s top scorer Michu to Swansea.

However, they may have just found the perfect replacement in Argentine Alejandro Dominguez who joined from Valencia.

Things didn’t really work out for the 31-year-old at the Mestalla but there is no doubting his quality and he’ll be looking to dictate the pace of the game on Monday.

After upsetting the odds by staying up last season, Granada could well struggle this season but their unique partnership with Udinese has helped them recruit well this summer.

Of the five players they’ve gained in the off-season from the Serie A side, former Italy under-21 striker Antonio Floro Flores could be the key man and he’s certainly still good enough at the top level, scoring 10 times in 18 appearances last year.

Finding the net has been a major issue for the Filipinos but the 29-year-old could make the difference for them this term and look out for him to regularly challenge the Rayo defence on Monday.

Like the first game, this looks almost too close to call but Granada appear to have just that extra bit of quality and should just sneak it by a single goal (Granada 15/2 to win 1-0).

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Villarreal make Porto favourites

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Spanish outfit Villarreal are looking to put a spanner in the works of a potential all-Portuguese Europa League final in Dublin next month ahead of their semi-final first leg with Porto as they aim to reach a first major European final at the third attempt (6/5 Villarreal To Qualify).

The Yellow Submarine are the odd ones out ahead of Thursday’s last-four encounters as they travel to Portugal to face an in-form Porto side at the same time Portuguese outfits Benfica and Braga do battle in their first-leg showdown.

Porto v Villarreal

Villarreal are desperate to end their ‘nearly’ tag after losing 1-0 on aggregate to La Liga rivals Valencia in the semi-finals of the 2004 UEFA Cup before Arsenal defeated them by the same score over two legs in the 2006 Champions League semis.

They will go into battle boosted by their 8-2 aggregate win against Dutch outfit of Twente Enschede in the quarter-finals.

However, Villarreal midfielder Bruno Soriano is under no illusions about the size of the task facing his side, claiming that Porto are clear favourites to progress (8/13 To Qualify).

And while he is happy with Villarreal’s attacking qualities, Soriano is looking for the backline to try and keep it tight so they have a chance on home soil in the second leg (Villarreal 7/2 To Keep A Clean Sheet).

He said: “We have to improve our defence to not concede as many goals. If we can do that, we will have taken a big step forward.”

Villarreal will fancy their chances of securing away goals with Italian forward Giuseppe Rossi (7/1 First Goalscorer) on 10 goals in the Europa League already this season, while Porto’s poor record of 11 wins in 34 attempts against Spanish opposition in Europe means the omens are against the Portuguese.

However, while Soriano’s claim that Porto are favourites could be a possible attempt at mind games, it is not without foundation.

Andre Villas-Boas’ team have enjoyed a storming season in which they have already wrapped up the Portuguese title in style, having won 25 and drawn two of their 27 matches so far, leaving them 19 points clear of Benfica.

Their form in the Europa League is just as prolific as they have secured 12 wins in 14 outings, including all seven away from home which is a warning to Villarreal ahead of the second leg.

They also have plenty of goals, having thrashed Spartak Moscow 10-3 on aggregate in their quarter-final clash, while they boast the competition’s top scorer with Colombian striker Radamel Falcao (5/1 Two or More Match Goalscorer) leading the way with 11.

It is a game that will no doubt contain plenty of goals (11/5 Four Or More Total Goals) and, despite the desperation of Villarreal, Porto should be able to take some kind of lead to El Madrigal for the second leg.

First-leg prediction: Porto To Win 90 Minutes @ 4/6

Value Bet: Porto To Win 3-1 Correct Score @ 11/1

Benfica v Braga

The all-Portuguese affair in the second semi-final on Thursday sees two sides looking to end otherwise disappointing campaigns on a high after dropping into the Europa League (Benfica 5/2, Braga 7/1 – Outright) from the Champions League and living in the shadow of Porto in domestic competitions.

Benfica, in particular, are smarting from the fact Porto wrapped up the Portuguese title courtesy of a 3-1 win against them in Lisbon, before then coming back from a two-goal first-leg deficit in the domestic Cup to dump them out on away goals last week.

They will have the scent of revenge in their nostrils if they can line up a final showdown with Porto next month and that should inspire them to get past Braga in the semi-finals (Benfica 2/5 To Qualify).

Braga will not be pushovers as they have already picked up some notable scalps in European competition this season, dumping Celtic out of the Champions League last July and defeating Arsenal in the group stages.

They saw off Liverpool 1-0 on aggregate in the Europa League round-of-16 before booking their semi-final place on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate draw with Dynamo Kiev.

While scoring goals is not Braga’s forte of late, they clearly know how to grind out a required result (4/1 To Keep A Clean Sheet) and will not roll over for their more illustrious Portuguese rivals.

First-leg prediction: Benfica To Win To Nil @ 13/10

Value Bet: Benfica To Win 1-0 Correct Score @ 11/2

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City favourites in Europa League

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Three British teams will be bidding to qualify for the next stage of the Europa League when the competition resumes next month. Manchester City, Rangers and Liverpool all play their first-legs of the Round of 32 during the week of February 14, with the reverse legs taking place a week later.

Rangers take on Sporting of Portugal at Ibrox in the first leg, with the two teams going into the ties with very different records behind them in Europe this season (Rangers 5/4 to qualify).

Sporting topped Group C in the Europa League, with four wins from their six games including an impressive 2-1 away win at Lille, who finished as the group’s other qualifiers. The Portuguese side scored 14 goals in the round as they won all their three home ties including a 5-1 thumping of Gent and a 5-0 win over Levski Sofia.

Sporting had a major blip in the play-off round when they lost their first leg 2-0 at home to Brondby and looked to be heading out. But they responded in style, winning 3-0 in the return in Denmark to go through.

Sporting sit third in the league thanks to four wins in their last six games, and have three in-form strikers. Helda Postiga and Carlos Saleiro have each scored four goals from nine games this season, while Yannick Djalo has three from 10.

Rangers’ lone success in Europe this season has come from a 1-0 home win over Bursaspor, though the only time they have been outclassed was in the 3-0 defeat to Valencia. They conceded just one goal over two games against Manchester United, so will come into the Europa League with some confidence (Rangers 66/1 to win Europa League).

Since their shock 2-0 defeat at home to Hibernian in November, Rangers have won five of their seven games, the only loss coming in the January 2 Old Firm game.

Manchester City will face a trip to Aris on February 15, with the Greeks having surprised many by pipping 2010 winners Atletico Madrid into the second qualification spot in Group B behind Bayer Leverkusen (City 1/8 to qualify).

Aris beat Atletico 1-0 at home and won the away game 3-2, so they deserved their place in the Round of 32. Fourth in the Greek Super League, Aris qualified by finishing fourth in last season’s play-offs.

The Thessaloniki-based side boast seven current internationals, including Christos Aravidis, Athanassios Prittas and Michaelis Sifakis of Greece and Toja of Colombia.

The Greeks have struggled for goals in their domestic league in the current season, but Croatian striker Danijel Cesarec has scored four in seven Europa League games.

City were level with Manchester neighbours United at the top of the Premier League going into this weekend’s fixtures, though having played two games more (City 4/1 favourites to win Europa League).

They will have few fears of going to Greece, having already won six Premier League games away from Eastlands and finished top of Group A in the last round.

City beat Lech Poznan 3-1 at home and Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium, and finished the group ahead of the Polish team on goal difference.

Roberto Mancini’s side have been second in the table for the past four weeks and went into this weekend’s games having won six of their last eight Premier League games.

Like City, Liverpool must start on the road when they go to Sparta Prague on February 17 (Liverpool 1/6 to qualify).

Sparta were a distant second to CSKA Moscow in Group F, losing just once but only winning two games. They beat Palermo 3-2 at home at Lausanne-Sport 3-1 away, but were well beaten 3-0 by the Russians in Moscow.

Sparta won the Gambrinus liga last season, as well as the Supercup, but are four points behind leaders Viktoria Plzen after the first 17 games of the current season.

Liverpool qualified for the Europa League by finishing seventh in the Premier League last season, but have been hugely disappointing in the first half of the current campaign and axed Roy Hodgson as manager earlier this month (Liverpool 13/2 to win Europa League).

The Liverpool supporters got their wish when legend Kenny Dalglish took over at the helm, but they will need to turn their season around quickly.

Liverpool completed a good 3-1 aggregate win over Trabzonspor in the play-off stage, having seen off Rabotnicki 4-0 in the qualifying round.

In the group stage, they finished top by three points over Napoli having been undefeated in their six games. They only conceded three goals in the round and enjoyed a 4-1 home win over Steaua Bucharest and beat Napoli 3-1 at Anfield.

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