Champions League Update

ANY UNQUOTED BACKERS COLLECT IN 4 OF 8 CHAMPION LEAGUE MATCHES ON BETFAIR

WITH Barcelona and Chelsea winning 5-0 and 2-0 respectively against Levski Sofia and Werder Bremen, it is all going to plan so far for the Champions League favourites. The Spanish side have hardened into 4.6 favouritism on Betfair, with Chelsea available at 5.7.

Any unquoted was backed at 3.55 in the Barcelona game while Chelsea were backed at 8 to win 2-0.

Liverpool drew 0-0 at PSV, a scoreline matched at 8.8 on Betfair, and Galatasaray-Bordeaux was also goalless.

The Olympiakos-Valencia match was a touch more fluctuating.

Olympiakos traded at a low of 1.6 in the match odds market when taking the lead on 28 minutes - with Valencia drifting to 7 - but the Spanish side were 1.46 on Betfair at the interval after netting twice.

But Olympiakos drifted to19.5, and Valencia were backed at a low of 1.29, before the home side squared it at 2-2 in the second half.

The draw was then backed at a low of 1.35, with Valencia lengthening to 7.8 before they re-took the lead on 85 minutes before Morientes completed his hat-trick in injury time.

Valencia were matched at 28 on Betfair to be leading at half-time, while Olympiakos were backed at 1.15 on that market before the 34th minute equalizer and the draw at 1.28 before Fernando Morientes struck his second on 39 minutes.

Bayern Munich opened up with a 4-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow, while Roma beat Shakhtar Donetsk by the same scoreline.

Sporting Lisbon beat Inter Milan 1-0.

TO WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – BETFAIR BET: 4.6 Barcelona, 5.7 Chelsea, 9.8 Real Madrid, 13 Milan, 13.5 AC Milan, 14.5 Man Utd, 18.5 Lyon, 21 Valencia, 23 Arsenal, 26 Liverpool, 27 Bayern Munich,

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HALF-TIME UPDATE - BETFAIR

WITH Barcelona and Chelsea leading 2-0 and 1-0 at half-time respectively against Levski Sofia and Werder Bremen, it is all going to plan so far for the Champions League favourites.

It is goalless after 45 minutes in five of the other six matches, but there has been some betting drama in the Olympiakos v Valencia tie.

Olympiakos traded at 1.6 in the match odds market when taking the lead on 28 minutes - with Valencia drifting to 7 - but the Spanish side are 1.46 on Betfair at the interval after netting twice.

Valencia were matched at 28 on Betfair to be leading at half-time, while Olympiakos were backed at 1.15 on that market before the 34th minute equalizer and the draw at 1.28 before Fernando Morientes struck his second on 39 minutes.

TIPS FOR TONIGHT

Lyon v Real Madrid

One of the most intriguing ties of the first round of fixtures sees the perennially consistent Lyon take on a new-look Real Madrid. Amongst Real Madrid’s new faces will be Mahamadou Diarra who up to a few weeks ago played for…Lyon. Lyon will miss the energy and tackling that Diarra provides but have players in the squad to overcome the loss. More significantly, they have one of the best home records in the Champions League of anyone in this year’s competition. Last year’s stats make good reading for Gerard Houllier with three home wins out of three in last year’s Group Stage, including an opening day 3-0 win against none other than Real Madrid.

With this in mind, the 1.77 available on Lyon on the 0 handicap looks a very appealing price. On Sunday night Real cruised to a 4-1 away to Levante in La Liga but this was against a side that were promoted this year and who played with ten men for most of the match. Though they look a far more solid side under coach Fabio Capello, they will take time to adjust to the coach’s new methods and to find their best eleven.

All three of Lyon’s home matches at last year’s Group Stage had over 2.5 goals scored in them and this one could well go the same way. Lyon play pure attacking football at home and have in Juninho Pernambucano, Tiago, Malouda, Wiltord and Carew players who are full of goals in them. With the attacking options that Real possess, they are always capable of scoring as well so goals should be on the cards. Over 2.5 goals are priced at 2.3.

Manchester United v Celtic

Alex Ferguson will look back at last season’s Champions League campaign as one of his greatest failures since he’s been in charge at Old Trafford. They crashed out at the Group Stage and if that wasn’t bad enough, they also failed to finish third and hence missed out on entering the UEFA cup as well.

But Manchester United are the in-form side in the Premiership with four wins out of four and twelve goals scored. As if this wasn’t bad enough for Celtic, Man Utd will also be welcoming back Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes who have missed the last three domestic matches through suspension. The 1.35 on a Manchester United win is an attractive price but the 2.07 on United on the -1.5 handicap looks even better- home support, confidence and the good form of key players Ryan Giggs and Louis Saha could well mean United win this one relatively comfortably.

Manchester United conceded just one goal in three home matches in the Group Stage last year and have conceded just two in four matches in the Premiership so far. On this basis the 1.88 on United keeping a clean sheet against Celtic looks a solid bet.

Two out of Man United’s four matches this season have been drawn at half-time before United have gone on to win at full-time. A repeat of this scenario at 4.9 may be worth looking into.