Schalke 04 vs Internazionale
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Today’s secondary featured game is the UEFA Champions League encounter between German outfit Schalke 04 and Italian giants Internazionale. The hosts bring a surprise 5-2 lead into this game from their visit to Italy last week on which they defeated reigning champions Internazionale heavily so we should see an interesting game here.
I would hate to enter the 1×2 market here, to be blunt. On one hand, we have an average Schalke 04 side that are striving to impress their new manager and on the other hand we have a superior team under the stewardship of an “attack-attack-attack” scholar who cares little for defending, as much as Inter like to revert to it where possible.
Schalke 04 do have some good players ala Raul, Metzelder, Farfan etc. but to classify them as a good side would be misleading. They have that atypical German presence and efficiency that can frustrate the best of teams but they’re not a particularly talented side like Bayern Munich, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, or Bv09 Borussia Dortmund, for example. Schalke 04 capitalised on bad Italian defending in the first leg and they’ve looked good under new boss Rangnick, to be fair. The ex-Hoffenheim boss has them playing good football and attacking sides, for a change, so they’re starting to look the force that they should be again and thus Inter have to be careful here.
However, from a realistic perspective, Inter are the better side here. Will they win? Hard to say. They have to win, of course, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will win in accordance with the wacky rules of football. They’ve got virtually a full-strength side for this game with Lucio fit and with the likes of Eto’o in attack, Inter should have more than enough to score goals here. However, their defence is vulnerable under Leonardo and Schalke have a lot of pace on the break so you have to expect home goals here too.
Therefore, as I mentioned earlier, I expect a good game here. I’d not dream of betting on winner here as there are too many variants but one thing that we should be guaranteed here is goals, both based on the first leg and based on the style and recent displays of both teams. Therefore, odds of 3/4 appeal to me on over 2.5 goals today.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 3/4.
Wednesday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
Sydney FC vs Kashima Antlers – both sides to score at evens.
First of all, I think it’s an absolute fucking joke that the Asian Football Federation are making Japanese clubs play in the Asian Champions League after such a catastrophe. Could there possibly be a worse time to play a game of football?!
However, I’m going to rather sadistically use it against the Japanese giants today as I believe we’ll see the same type of disjointed away display that we’ve seen from them twice already in the current campaign. They’re the better side here; that’s a given. However, they’re also better than China’s Shanghai Shenhua and South Korea’s Suwon Bluewings but ended up drawing both of those games away from home due to defensive weakness. That’s what I expect more of today, really. Kashima Antlers have no problems in scoring goals but in defence, they’re really rather vulnerable and it’d be no surprise at all if that were the case today, given recent events in Japan.
Sydney FC have improved since signing Finnish striker Makela as they finally look dangerous in front of goal. The absence of attacking midfielder Carle today is a blow for the Australian hosts but with Makela, Cazarine, and Bridge in attack, they should have enough to capitalise on a leaky Kashima defence. Sydney have been hard to beat for their respective Chinese and South Korean opponents thus far and I expect a rather distracted Kashima Antlers side to suffer a similar fate here.
I’d hate to enter the 1×2 market here with so many variants able to affect the outcome of the game. However, backing both sides to score at decent odds of evens given Kashima’s dangerous attack and vulnerable defence looks to be the way forward here.
Team news – Sydney FC miss Carle.
Verdict: Both sides to score at evens.
Accumulator fodder:
AGF Aarhus, HB Koge, FK Ventspils, Skonto Riga, Liepajas Metalurgs.
Recommended bets:
I don’t like any multiples today, sorry guys!
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
UEFA Champions League:
Tottenham Hotspur vs Real Madrid (5) 1-1
Schalke 04 vs Internazionale (4) over 2.5 goals
Copa Libertadores:
Estudiantes De La Plata vs Cruzeiro (4) 1-2, at least one red card in this game
Guarani Asuncion vs Deportes Tolima (6) 1-1
Asian Champions League:
Sydney FC vs Kashima Antlers (6) 1-1
Danish 1st Division:
Hjorring vs Bronshoj (5)
AB Copenhagen vs Fredericia (6)
Skive vs Viborg (4)
AGF Aarhus vs Roskilde (8)
Fyn vs Vestjaelland (5)
Naestved vs Kolding (6)
HB Koge vs Hvidovre (8)
Vejle vs Hobro (6) under 2.5 goals
Latvian Virsliga:
FK Ventspils vs Gulbene 2005 (9) -1.5 handicap
RFS/Olimps Riga vs Skonto Riga (8) 0-2
FC Jurmala vs Daugava Daugavpils (7) 0-1
Jelgava vs Liepajas Metalurgs (8) 1-2
Mexican Primera Division:
Toluca vs Guadalajara (5) 1-1
Necaxa vs Estudiantes Tecos (5) 2-1
Santos Laguna vs Puebla (6) 1-0
Queretaro vs Atlante (5) 1-1
Cruz Azul vs Monterrey (6) 1-1
Atlas vs Pumas UNAM (4) 0-1
Tigres UANL vs Pachuca (3) 0-1
Romanian Liga:
Astra Ploiesti vs Sportul Studentesc (7) 1-0
Gaz Metan Medias vs FC Brasov (6) 0-0
Poli Timisoara vs Pandurii Targu Jiu (3) 1-2
Steaua Bucharest vs Otelul Galati (7) 0-0
Scottish Premier League:
Aberdeen vs Rangers (6) 1-2
Singaporean S-League:
Woodlands Wellington vs Geylang United (5) 0-1
Swiss Challenge League:
Locarno vs Aarau (6)
Enjoy your free betting tips!