Porto vs Manchester United
FreeWell friends, today we witness the magic of “future dated” posts on this blog as when you’re reading this, I will be in Portugal at the Porto vs Manchester United game. I’ll be there hoping to fuck that my side play a lot better than they did at home and that Alex Ferguson’s tactics are distinctly better this time. Anyway, the previews for both Champions League games are listed below.
Porto vs Manchester United – I think it’s fair to say that this game is the most widely anticipated of the quarter-finals purely because it’s the only one with any real contest in it due to the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the first leg. There’s an awful lot of angles to look at this game from, however, and I’m a bit concerned as I’m really not sure what will happen in this game. Ferguson drastically underestimated the Portuguese outfit, which I really hoped he wouldn’t because their pace up front is frightening at times. Both sides in question beat lowly opposition at weekend and both side are very much capable of scoring goals. Interestingly enough, no English side has ever won at the Estadio de Dragao. That is a factor that all the players on the pitch will be aware of but to be honest, there aren’t many sides better at breaking records than Manchester United. What should make this game excellent is that both sides need to attack. Porto simply can’t afford to sit back like they did against Atletico Madrid because they’re weak defensively and would suffer – just like the first leg, they had to take the initiative and it paid huge dividends. In fact, let’s be straight – neither side are capable defensively at the present time so it logically has to be gung-ho from both sides in this game. Ferreira knows his side can’t keep Manchester United out tonight so he has to attack. One thing Manchester United do need to happen is the return of Rio Ferdinand or else there will be trouble at the back. As I said last game (and still Ferguson didn’t pay attention – bastard!) – Manchester United must keep Lucho Gonzalez under wraps. He did so much damage in the first game that I can’t help but feel Manchester United must have taken note. This is the time when we miss a holding midfielder like Owen Hargreaves or even Anderson, who could feature against his former club. Unfortunately for Manchester United, Porto are very adept at dealing with individually brilliant players as their league is somewhat packed with them. So where does all this leave us? My head says it’ll be at least 2-1 to someone, but whether that’s the hosts or the visitors I really don’t know. The only bet I would be very happy placing is that there’ll be over 2.5 goals. I’m going to say Manchester United to win – not via bias, before I’m silently accused of it – simply because they are the better side, they’re good at breaking records and the pressure is off them and onto Porto now – the English side will be back to doing what they do best, which is attacking. The Portuguese hosts will be under pressure as favourites to progress and they don’t deal very well with that in my experience of Portuguese sides. 1-2 is my call!
Arsenal vs Villarreal – Maybe I’m a bit blase towards this game, but I feel it’s already over – Arsenal will surely progress to the next round here. Villarreal aren’t the best travellers at the best of times. Now that they enter this game on the back of a home defeat to a side that frankly isn’t as good as them (Malaga), they’ve lost arguably their best and most influential player in Marcos Senna due to injury, and they face an Arsenal side massively in-form and scoring goals for fun – I can only see one outcome here. Arsenal have really got the bit between their teeth currently and I’ll be surprised if this result isn’t clear by two or three goals. The hosts are simply too good for the visitors. My call for this game is 3-0 with Adebayor to score at any time.
Wednesday’s Picks
My tips:
There’s only one treble for me today, and that utilises Arsenal, HJK Helsinki and Djurgardens. I suspect the odds for this will be either 5/1 or 6/1.
UEFA Champions League:
Porto vs Manchester United (5) 1-2
Arsenal vs Villarreal (8) 3-0, Adebayor to score at any time
Finnish Liiga Cup Final:
Tampere United vs HJK Helsinki (7) 1-2
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Halmstads BK vs IF Brommapojkarna (6) 2-1
BK Hacken Goteborg vs IFK Goteborg (6) 1-2, at least one red card in this game
Djurgardens vs Gefle (7) 1-0
Enjoy your free betting tips!