Champions League: Barcelona vs Man Utd
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Barcelona vs Man Utd betting odds
| Bookie |
1 |
X |
2 |
<2.5 |
>2.5 |
| Expekt |
2.55 |
3.10 |
2.95 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Bet365 |
2.50 |
3.10 |
3.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| MyBet |
2.40 |
3.05 |
2.95 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
| Gamebookers |
1.91 |
3.10 |
1.91 |
1.70 |
2.05 |
This week Champions League matches
| Wednesday, 23.04.2008 |
| Barcelona - Man Utd |
20:45 |
| Wednesday, 30.04.2008 |
| Chelsea - Liverpool |
20:45 |
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 Manchester United are coming back to the scene of success. Precisely at Camp Nou, Ferguson earned his only Champions League title thanks to a last-minute turnover. The question is if Barcelona, that play desperately lately, can stop United on their way to the new finals.
Catalonians completely out of form
In the last five home games Barcelona won only two and in the mean time lost the chance for the Primera title.
The only thing that keeps Rijkaard on Barcelona bench is the success in the Champions League, where they must beat mighty Manchester United to get to the finals. Weak form is, however not Rijkaard’s biggest problem.
Barcelona have been playing weaker than expected during the whole season. Ronaldinho is practically out of the team, Henry didn’t fit in, and Messi’s and Etoo’s injuries made things even worse. In such an atmosphere, the title was too much for them, and the Champions League success could be the result of a favourable draw in the knock-out stage (Celtic and Schalke).
Good news for Barcelona fans is certainly Messi’s return.
Argentinean will be prepared for the semifinals while only Henry is not yet sure. However, this is where the good news end. It is well-known that Barca will face United without captain Puyol who is the key person in defense. Without him, recently recovered Milito and Marquez will try to close all the gates to the net and it is hard to see them succeed when you know who will be the opposite side. Barca will certainly try to use Messi's, Krkic’s and Etoo’s technical qualities to reach the victory that would get them to the finals and a 14 million euro prize.
United still in the race for double
After Tevez’s last-minute strike against Rovers, United certainly kept their lead over Chelsea in the race for the title. The next week is the period where Fergie must get the best out of his lads since precisely the matches against Barcelona and Chelsea will decide the season. Nine years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson managed to lead United to the title thanks to Solksjear and Sheringham's stoppage-time efforts.
Camp Nou is obviously a lucky stadium for United and unless the wheel of fortune turns on Wednesday, United could solve thee dilemma already in the first match against out-of-form Barcelona.
Everyone agrees that United are the favourites. This could easily be tricky, because in spite of weak form, Barcelona are not the side that should be underestimated. In the previous matches United's defense had a lot of problems. The main reason being the fact that Ferdinand and Vidic are not fully prepared. On the other hand, midfield, especially Ferguson’s preferred 4-5-1 formation for the Champions League and the derbies, is excellent. Even besides Ferguson’s announcement that the Matches against Barcelona will be goal festivals, we doubt that Ferguson will give up his 4-5-1 formation with Ronaldo as an only forward. Since Tevez started the match against Blackburn, he will probably start the Wednesday match on the bench and get the chance only in the second part. Hargreaves and Anderson who rested against Rovers will definitely be prepared for this match and it would be no surprise if we saw them both in the starting eleven.
United's biggest advantage against Barca will be speed. Barcelona showed on several occasions this season that they have big problems against fats attackers. It is simply unthinkable that they can stop Ronaldo and Rooney without Puyol, for these two are dramatically faster that Milito and Marquez. If United opt for the similar tactics like against Roma, Barcelona could have problems each time when they counterattack.
Betting Verdict
As we've mentioned United are the favourites in the semifinals but they almost certainly won’t attack at Camp Nou, but they will wait patiently for their chance.
Ferguson’s aim is certainly to score and we believe that they will succeed, first of all because of the quality of the attackers and the fact that Barcelona defense is slow. On the other hand, we believe that Barcelona will reach the opposite net as well. Messi, Etoo, Krkic, are able to jeopardize Van Der Sar’s net.
We expect goals from both sides, besides the fact that this won’t be as open match as everyone expects. Odds for over 2.25 goals (Bet365 2.02) are simply to high for these rivals and we advise you to think about that bet.
Our tip: Bet 7 on Over 2.25 goals
Odds 2.02 at
Bookmaker: Bet365
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