Champions League 7.4.

Man Utd - Bayern

Yes it was two flukes in Munich, but it happens when the team is under a heavy pressure. Bayern's win was clear and deserved for me. Both Utd's right-backs had a nightmare night. First Neville, handed the ball and Germans scored (I actually counted on his experience, but he reacted like an amateur). Evra's reaction before second goal was sensational, in my opinion. He repeated the same vs. Chelsea. Tonight will face recovered Robben. So, why we should expect tougher defense line tonight?

.

On the other hand, no chance I'll ever bet against United at Old Trafford at any price. German's defense is not much better (if it is even better). Sir Alex stated they'll play for 1-0 win. Sure they will. He also stated Rooney and Rio are absolutely fit, before Bolton. I think Utd's biggest chance is opening 15 minutes when Bayern will be under highest pressure. One scored goal then could give a big advantage to the hosts.

.

Can not bet on result after second half in Germany. And one man is not the team (as Vidic said), but Rooney is not an ordinary man and Berbatov really annoys me. Despite not so good odds, over 2.5 in this game is best bet for me. And won't suggest anyone to follow me, but have some feeling we could see extra time tonight. Gamble on Man Utd to win after penalty shoot out at 26.00!

.

Bordeaux - Lyon

Actually I was about to back Lyon with DNB counting on their experience (same word again) playing at this level of competition. But, two facts discouraged me in that intention. First, two goals difference for Lyon wasn't fully deserved. Second, visitors will miss three very important players Lisandro Lopez, Jean II Makoun and Sidney Govou (Bafetimbi Gomis is fit). Since I'm really not an expert for French football (or its fan) and despite I can see another high scoring game, I'm giving up from this one. No bet!

.

Available free bets, bonus offers and promotions:
Expekt - First deposit bonus up to €35 / £25 for all new customers
Make your first deposit at expekt.com and we will immediately double your money up to max €35 / £25. Take these 3 easy steps to start profiting from sports betting: 1.Register an account with expekt.com here. 2.Deposit a minimum of €10 into your expekt.com account. 3.Send an email to 35eurbonus@expekt.com with your customer number and deposit amount included. The bonus amount up to €35/£25 will be added to your account within 48 h

Wednesday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Manchester City are ready to spark a cross-city battle with United for £24m-rated Roma striker Mirko Vucinic.(The Sun) 
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce is making a move for £6m-rated Estudiantes striker Mauro Boselli as he plans for a new-look attack. Birmingham were chasing the Argentina international in January's transfer window. (Daily Mirror) 
Sheffield United are lining up a summer move for Sunderland defender Phil Bardsley. The former Manchester United right-back, 24, is out of favour at the Stadium of Light.(Daily Mail) 
Tottenham are ready to splash out £2m on Notts County goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and then loan him back to the League Two outfit.(Daily Mirror) 
Spurs are also keen on £5m-rated Atletico Madrid keeper Sergio Asenjo to come in as back up Heurelho Gomes.(The Sun) 
QPR manager Neil Warnock wants to sign nine players for a total of £10m during the summer. He is targeting Scunthorpe striker Gary Hooper plus Julian Speroni, Nathaniel Clyne, Darren Ambrose and Neil Danns of his former club Crystal Palace.(Daily Mirror) 
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is keen to snap up Bolton's South Korean winger Lee Chung-Yong for £8m to help provide extra creativity and more firepower for his strikers.(Caughtoffside.com) 
Bolton boss Owen Coyle wants to sign Burnley's 30-year-old defender Clarke Carlisle, who is out of contract at the end of the season. (The Sun) 
Patrick Vieira, 33, expects to remain at Manchester City next season despite interest from America. (IM Scouting) 
Chelsea and Manchester City are tracking 22-year-old Bari defender Leonardo Bonucci. (IM Scouting) 
Birmingham and Sunderland face competition from Italian side Juventus in the race to sign German striker Kevin Kuranyi from Schalke.(IM Scouting) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley will allow a summer spending spree at St James' Park to try to ensure Premier League survival next season, despite being reluctant to return to the days of the club's high-spending past.(The Guardian)
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has played in a secret 11-a-side friendly and could be on the bench for Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich.(Daily Mirror) 
And Rooney has been driving United manager Sir Alex Ferguson crazy with his pleas to make him a substitute for the Old Trafford clash.(Daily Mail)
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has blamed the club's failure to challenge for the Premier League title squarely at the feet of the Anfield outfit's owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.(Daily Mirror) 
Referee Mike Dean has been demoted from officiating in the Premier League this weekend. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson called his performance "poor" in their 2-1 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday, while Dean also awarded Blackburn a questionable penalty in their 1-0 win over Burnley the week before.
Simon Beck, who failed to flag Didier Drogba offside for Chelsea's second goal, has also been demoted and both will officiate at Bristol City this weekend. (Daily Mail)

AND FINALLY

Burnley midfielder Kevin McDonald has apologised after wandering to a pub with his family after leaving Turf Moor following his half-time substitution on Saturday. The 21-year-old was fined for his walkout during the fixture against Manchester City, which the Clarets lost 6-1.(The Times)
www.bbc.co.uk

One gamble for today

1.35 for Barca’s win in this stage of CL is a rubbish for me. Although I can’t really see any different outcome. Odds on goals are insult as well. Won’t get involved in this game.

Russian team is a kind of mystery for me. I have an impression CSKA look better on the road, than at home. Tonight, it looks only advantage will be artificial grass. As far as I’m aware, Italians haven’t played on it. 
I can’t imagine Inter losing after knocked out Chelsea. In such occasions, when stronger club play for a draw (I guess Mourinho would be absolutely satisfied with 1-1) game usually ends with a draw. This is my only bet today. Gamble on a draw.

Huddersfield have noticed 6 home games without a win. They fight for a play-off, but Oldham do that for their lives. And I have some ugly feeling, we’ll see Colchester in play-off. 1.55? No way.

.

Available free bets, bonus offers and promotions:
Expekt - First deposit bonus up to €35 / £25 for all new customers
Make your first deposit at expekt.com and we will immediately double your money up to max €35 / £25. Take these 3 easy steps to start profiting from sports betting: 1.Register an account with expekt.com here. 2.Deposit a minimum of €10 into your expekt.com account. 3.Send an email to 35eurbonus@expekt.com with your customer number and deposit amount included. The bonus amount up to €35/£25 will be added to your account within 48 h

Tuesday's gossip column

BREAKING GOSSIP

Wigan are unlikely to make goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic's loan move from Sporting Lisbon permanent at the end of the season.(imscouting.com) 

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Arsenal are on the trail of £10m-rated Wigan striker Hugo Rodallega with Latics boss Roberto Martinez already lining up Espanyol forward Jose Callejon as a replacement.(The Sun) 
Juventus are lining up a £12m bid for Tottenham's Wales international full-back Gareth Bale in the summer.(caughtoffside.com) 
AC Milan are set to beat Manchester United to the signing of France international forward Karim Benzema by offering Real Madrid a swap deal involving Brazilian striker Pato.(imscouting.com)
Midfielder Boudewijn Zenden is not sure that he has done enough to earn a new Sunderland contract, despite his spectacular volleyed goal against Tottenham on Saturday.(Daily Star) 
Roberto Mancini is in negotiations with his former club Inter Milan to bring striker Mario Balotelli, who has fallen out with Jose Mourinho, to Manchester City.(caughtoffside.com) 
Martin O'Neill is planning to offer Tottenham £11m for striker Robbie Keane, who is currently on loan at the Aston Villa manager's former club Celtic.(caughtoffside.com) 
Arsenal are monitoring Paris St Germain midfielder Clement Chantome after the 22-year-old voiced his dissatisfaction with life at the Ligue 1 side.(Daily Mirror) 
Major League Soccer chiefs are hoping to tempt a raft of French stars to bring their careers to a lucrative end in the United States' domestic league. Barcelona forward Thierry Henry, Villareal midfielder Robert Pires and Manchester City anchorman Patrick Vieira will all be approached.(imscouting.com) 
Celtic are on the trail of Southampton's £2m-rated England Under-21 midfielder Adam Lallana.(The Sun)
Sunderland's on-loan Tottenham right-back, Alan Hutton, is being chased by Newcastle, who clinched promotion to England's top flight on Monday. (Daily Express) 
Former Rangers player John Brown has urged defender Danny Wilson to resist a move to Liverpool or Tottenham to stay at Ibrox. (Daily Record)

OTHER GOSSIP

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti says that midfielder Joe Cole will "definitely" sign a new contract at Stamford Bridge.(The Sun) 
Middlesbrough manager Gordon Strachan left out Gary O'Neil for Monday's night match against Plymouth with the midfielder one match away from triggering a £1m payment to former club Portsmouth.(Daily Star) 
Fabio Capello has been reassured that Manchester United will not play Wayne Rooney against Bayern Munich if there is any risk to his long-term fitness.(Daily Mail) 
Manager Arsene Wenger will include Sol Campbell in the heart of his Arsenal defence for their Champions League second-leg quarter-final match against Barcelona.(The Sun) 
Bayern Munich are set to welcome back winger Arjen Robben and defender Daniel van Buyten from injury for Wednesday's trip to Old Trafford.(The Sun) 
Liverpool are the underdogs in the race for fourth place in the Premier League and Champions League qualification, according to captain Steven Gerrard.(The Guardian) 
Vejle Boldklub left-back Euan Holden says he would consider a call to the Scotland squad despite older brother Stuart, of Bolton, having chosen to play for the USA. (Various)

AND FINALLY

Gianfranco Zola has invoked Bill Shankly's famous line about football being "more important than life or death" as he tries to inspire West Ham for their fight against the drop.(Daily Mail) 
Iran's girls' football team have been ejected from the Youth Olympic Games because Fifa rules prevent players wearing Islamic headscarves.(Herald Sun)
www.bbc.co.uk

Happy Easter - see you soon

Fulham 2-1 Wolfsburg

Fulham will take a narrow lead to Germany for the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final following a hard-fought victory over Wolfsburg.
After a drab first half, Bobby Zamora curled in from 20 yards just before the hour to give the home side the lead. 
Four minutes later, Zamora turned provider for Damien Duff to smash in a superb second from 12 yards. 
Alexander Madlung's late headed goal changed the complexion of the tie ahead of next Thursday's return leg. 
It was a late blow that Fulham could have avoided after seemingly being in control courtesy of their two-goal salvo in the space of four second half minutes. 
However, Wolfsburg were rewarded for their persistence in the final 10 minutes and will now be confident that they can progress to the semi-finals. 
The reigning German champions, may not be having as successful season as last campaign but they remain a potent foe, who came into this match having lost only one of their last 10 matches. 
Their strength is built on the formidable attacking duo of Edin Dzeko and Grafite, who overcame injury and illness respectively to start this match, which may partly explain why they were largely anonymous throughout. 
The best opportunities the pair had were presented to them by the home side - in particularly an off-colour Brede Hangeland - but these they spurned. 
The most notable of these was a headed chance from Dzeko, which took the striker by surprise after Hangeland had completely missed his clearing header.
Fulham have a potent attacking threat of their own in the shape of Bobby Zamora and the big striker once again showed why he is so often mentioned as a potential England striker. 
It was he who broke the deadlock in the match in the 59th minute, collecting an infield pass from Zoltan Gera before manoeuvring himself into a shooting position on the edge of the box and curling a superb shot past keeper Diego Benaglio. 
Four minutes later he turned provider as the home side doubled their advantage, holding up a pass from Danny Murphy in the box with his back to goal before teeing up Duff to emphatically slam home from 12 yards. 
It was a burst of attacking precision that had until then being completely lacking from the home side, who had the best chances of the first half but saw them spurned by Zamora, from a tight angle, and Clint Dempsey, who fired wide just before the break. 
That Fulham did not see out the game with their two-goal lead in tact is largely due to their own failings. 
They gifted the visitors too much possession in dangerous areas and despite the Germans spurning two chances through tame shooting from Grafite and substitute Obefami Martins their quality eventually shone through.
In the 88th minute, Zvjezdan Misimovic's quickly taken corner was returned to him and his cross was headed home by Madlung to give Wolfsburg more than just hope to take with them back to Germany.

www.bbc.co.uk

Fulham – Wolfsburg

Fulham started to think about this game just after the humiliating of Juve. They have every right to be optimistic, knocking out Italian giant and ex competition winner - Shakhtar give them enough reasons for it. At the same time, they should be aware of their shape on the road. In Premier, they have a single win of 16 games. In Europe played a 1-1 draw in Ukraine which could be characterized as a miracle, more than a luck (19 attempts for Shakhtar and 17(!) corners) and 1-3 defeat in Italy. So, their chances are in this game, not in re-match. Zamora is rested, in fact all squad has been rested and they’ll give their best shot tonight.

 

Ex German champion eliminated Villarreal and Rubin in past two rounds. They have three consecutive wins in domain league (with three clean sheets) and their self confidence should be very high. They gain an attacking style of play and I doubt they’ll change it for tonight’s clash. From their point of view, they’ll play against average English team and won’t give them too much respect. Main problem is appearance of their best striker Edin Dzeko who is rated 50-50 to play. Even without him, Wolfsburg have huge attacking potential.

 

Both sides have reasons to believe in progress. Maybe I could give a small advantage to the hosts, but at the same time expect an open game from the start and goals. 888sport offer 2.00. Over 2.5.

.

Available free bets, bonus offers and promotions:
Expekt - First deposit bonus up to €35 / £25 for all new customers
Make your first deposit at expekt.com and we will immediately double your money up to max €35 / £25. Take these 3 easy steps to start profiting from sports betting: 1.Register an account with expekt.com here. 2.Deposit a minimum of €10 into your expekt.com account. 3.Send an email to 35eurbonus@expekt.com with your customer number and deposit amount included. The bonus amount up to €35/£25 will be added to your account within 48 h

Thursday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Arsenal are favourites to sign Italian under-21 international Mario Balotelli from Internazionale, after the 19-year-old's agent ruled out a move for the £15m-valued striker to Inter's local rivals AC Milan.(Caughtoffside.com) 
The Gunners are also chasing Real Zaragoza midfielder Ander Herrera and are mulling over the Spanish side's £7m vaulation of the 20-year-old.(The Sun) 
Chelsea want to sign Everton pair Steven Pienaar and Jack Rodwell, and will undertake a summer clear-out to raise funds for the transfers. (Caughtoffside.com) 
Wigan will let in-form winger Charles N'Zogbia leave the club in the summer if one of the Premier League's big guns comes calling, according to Latics manager Roberto Martinez.(Daily Mail) 
Manchester United will turn down Bolton and Birmingham's requests to sign winger Tom Cleverley on loan. (Daily Star)
Albert Riera wants to stay at "great" Liverpool after his move to Spartak Moscow broke down.(imscouting.com) 
Everton winger Dan Gosling will ignore interest from Manchester United and Arsenal and sign a new long-term deal at the club.(Daily Mirror) 
Ipswich have agreed a £100,000 fee with Brentford for Dutch central defender Pim Balkestein. (Daily Mirror) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Wayne Rooney will be fit for the World Cup after suffering a suspected 'grade one' ligament tear in Manchester United's Champions League first leg defeat by Bayern Munich. The striker is expected to be out for between three and four weeks. (Daily Mail) 
Didier Drogba is a major doubt for Chelsea's top-of-the-table Premier League showdown against United on Saturday after sitting out the last two days of the Blues' training with a knock. (Daily Mail) 
Liverpool boss manager Rafa Benitez has not ruled out Alberto Aquilani missing the rest of the season as he waits to learn the full extent of the Italian's ankle injury.(Daily Mail) 
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson is on the shortlist to succeed Tony Mowbray as the new boss of Celtic.(Daily Mail) 
The Football League's bottom side, Darlington, are poised to name former Barnsley boss Simon Davey as their new manager.(Daily Mail) 
Nenad Milijas will quit Wolves at the end of the season - if he cannot convince Mick McCarthy he has a long-term future at Molineux. (Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY 

Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda has told Manchester United how to stop Blues striker Didier Drogba - make him laugh. "That's the best way to defend against him," said Malouda, ahead of the sides' crucial Premier League match on Saturday.(The Sun) 
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has backed plans for referees to use a motorised two-wheeled personal transporter to help them keep up with speedy players. (The Sun) 

West Ham will brave ridicule next season by wearing pink on their home shirts as part of a new sponsorship deal with adult retailers Ann Summers.(Daily Mail)

www.bbc.co.uk