TFT Issue 553!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Athletic Club de Bilbao vs Olympique Lyonnais – home win at evens.
Today’s featured game is the UEFA Europa League game at San Mames between Athletic Club de Bilbao and Olympique Lyonnais.
Athletic have had a slow start to their campaign but have really picked it up lately. There’s still work to do as they’re not converting as many of their chances as they should be and they’re still shipping goals easily. However, as far as displays go, their results of late don’t really reflect the improvements that they’ve shown.
I watched Athletic at the Stade Gerland in the reversal of this fixture and they really should have got something from the game. Lisandro Lopez scored from nowhere on one of Lyon’s frankly rare attacks whereas Athletic dominated possession without really taking their chances. In front of what should be a packed San Mames, however, you really have to expect Athletic to do the business.
Llorente is gradually coming back into favour with Bielsa and that’s always a good thing. With Muniain’s growth as a football having stunted slightly, it’s important that Athletic look at other ways to score goals and Llorente is definitely an alternative that they could use. Aduriz has been superb for Athletic this season and thank God for that; they’d be in the drop zone without him. It was his two goals that won the game for Athletic at Granada lately. With the support of Ander Herrera and Markel Susaeta, not to mention Oscar de Marcos, Ibai Gomez, and Isma Lopez, Athletic do have more than enough going forward to create chances and they finally look ready to start scoring goals.
I’m really not a fan of Lyon nowadays because they’re a pretty bloody awful side to watch. Lopez is a gifted finisher but he’s worthier of a far better side than Lyon, in my view. There are too many average players in the French side’s squad and I can’t take them seriously because of that. Their defence looks fragile, as Corsican outfit Bastia proved at weekend, and they weren’t the first to do so, either. Lyon are remarkably clumsy for large periods of the game and although they’re quite smart tactically, this side lacks a lot of cohesion and consistency so I really don’t know how they’ll handle a bouncing San Mames today. Lyon have a couple of players that could damage Athletic with Lopez being the main threat but in the Basque country I do think that they’ll need more than they give, hence my reservations over them getting something from the game.
For me, there really should be value in a proud Athletic side winning this game at evens, especially with the firepower in their ranks.
Verdict: Athletic Club de Bilbao to win at evens.
Additional game
Molde FK vs Steaua Bucharest – away win at 7/5.
Although I’d love to cover it with draw no bet, I see a lot of potential value in taking the Romanian heavyweights Steaua Bucharest to win in Norway tonight. As long as they can adapt to the cold conditions then they really should be able to.
Steaua basically have an unfair advantage here, really. Unlike most European leagues, Norway’s Eliteserien ends this weekend. Subsequently, Molde have other priorities right now as they’re currently atop the table and could win the league this weekend. They rested players for the trip to Romania to prepare for their huge showdown with Rosenborg BK, which they would. I see no reason for that to differ today as they host Honefoss at weekend, knowing that three points would secure them heroic back-to-back league titles, which would almost certainly see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have a statue made of him outside Aker Stadion! Molde will still fight in this game but their second string was horribly outplayed in Romania against Steaua and I see no reason to expect otherwise today.
Steaua were guilty of wasting a whole host of chances against Molde in Romania, including missing a penalty. Indeed, finishing their chances is Steaua’s biggest weakness nowadays. If they had a gifted striker then they’d score four or five goals a game with the excellent football that they’re playing right now. They have a lot of confidence at the moment and three points would be very welcome to them and their passionate fans here.
For me, as long as Molde rest players in this game, then Steaua are well worth the risk at 7/5.
Verdict: Steaua Bucharest to win at 7/5.
Team news
UEFA Europa League:
Fenerbahce – Egemen and Meireles are absent. Topuz is a doubt.
Atletico Madrid – Costa is absent.
Levante – Gekkas and Dudka are absent.
Athletic Club de Bilbao – Ekiza, Perez, and Ruiz de Galarreta are absent.
Borussia Moenchengladbach – Daems, de Jong, and Younes are absent.
Hannover 96 – Felipe, Andreasen, and Pinto are absent. Schulz returns.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Boenisch is absent.
VfB Stuttgart – No news.
Academica de Coimbra – Halliche, Galo, and Cabral are absent. Ferreira and Real return.
Maritimo Funchal – Ytalo is absent. Salin and Adilson return.
Sporting Clube de Lisboa – Jeffren and Boulahrouz are absent. Martins, Camilo, Golas, and Ilori return.
Anzhi Makhachkala – Diarra is absent.
Rubin Kazan’ – Ryzantsev and Bocchetti are absent.
Internazionale – Alvarez, Ranocchia, Samuel, Coutinho, Chivu, Stankovic, Jonathan, Sneijder, Mariga, and Obi are absent.
SSC Napoli – Zuniga is absent.
Lazio – Ederson and Hernanes are absent. Marchetti is a doubt. Rotation expected.
Udinese – Pasquale, Gabriel Silva, Muriel, Benatia, and Pinzi are absent. Di Natale and Badu are doubts.
Girondins de Bordeaux – Saivet, Jussie, Chalme, Planus, Olimpa, Traore, and Obraniak are absent. Diabate, Poundje, and Bellion return.
Olympique Lyonnais – Benzia, Frick, Ghezzal, Gorgelin, Mvuemba, Michel Bastos, and Briand are absent. Grenier and Bisevac return.
Olympique de Marseille – Aloe, Mango, Omrani, N’Diaye, Gignac, and N’Koulou are absent. Fanni and Barton return.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv – Vermouth, Ben-Haim, and Abutbul are absent. Coach Abuksis will rest players.
Ironi Kiryat Shmona – Hasarma returns. Neutral venue.
Steaua Bucharest – Rusescu, Bourceanu, and Pintilii are absent.
Viktoria Plzen – Hanousek and Pavlik are absent.
Sparta Prague – Kadlec and Pavelka are absent. Matejovsky and Pamic are doubts.