Champions League quarter final betting

April 1st, 2008 by Banter

This weeks it’s the Champions League quarter finals:

Roma v Man Utd
Schalke 04 v Barcelona
Arsenal v Liverpool
Fenerbahce v Chelsea

Looking at the above fixtures, the majority of people may choose to back all the favourites to make the semis: Man Utd, Barca, Arsenal and Chelsea. Although I’m not 100% convinced that will happen. The tie that most football fans will be interested in is between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Betting Tip: Liverpool look to be a totally different team in Europe and I think that over two legs they’ll have a slight advantage over Arsenal and book their place into the semi-finals. Back Liverpool to qualify on Betfair currently at 2.08.

UPDATE: Winning Champions league bet- In the end Liverpool had the quality and luck to get through to the semi finals, proving once again in Europe they are a different class compared to when they play in the Premiership. A big thanks goes to Babel and Gerrard (and of course Toure!!) for doubling our money.

The Man Utd and Barcelona games raise a slight doubt for me. Man Utd have played Roma four times in two years losing only one game, but Roma must still be thinking about revenge after the 7-1 thrashing they received last season. Barcelona are going through are very bad patch at the moment, surrendering a 2 goal advantage last weekend isn’t ideal preparation and with key players such as Messi missing, this tie won’t be as easy as it looks. But Barcelona did prove against Celtic that they can turn on the style when necessary.

Chelsea playing away to Fenerbache in the first leg is a big advantage for them, there’s always a hostile atmosphere when teams play in Turkey. So getting this game out of the way first and then playing at the fortress Stamford bridge should allow them to book their passage safely through.

Predicted semi-finalists:

Man Utd, Barcelona, Liverpool, Chelsea

UPDATED: All four of the semi-finalists were predicted correctly, if only I could do the same with the weekly lottery numbers!!

Just for fun prediction:

Roma, Schalke, Liverpool, Chelsea

UK Soccer Shop have some special Champions League discount codes (expires 6th April midnight ) to use at their store to buy football shirts, boots etc… Use the banner below to get to their store, here are the codes: