Tip-Ex -- Sports betting and odds comparison service for gamblers and bookmakers: Bets, odds, betting tips and best prices.

Tuesdays Soccer – By Chris.

Champions League - quarter finals, first leg. 

Roma  -  Manchester Utd       3.00   -   2.75
In the group phase earlier this season, United won 1-0 at Old Trafford, but if I remember the match correctly, the United win was fortuitous. At the Olympic Stadium the return leg ended in 1-1 draw. Nothing much was at stake and United fielded mostly second choices. Last season United won their home leg 7-1, and lost 1-2 in Rome. I do not think that United will offer their flamboyant best tomorrow. To return home with a draw would be perfect and I expect United to play a somewhat cautious game in Rome, using counter attacks as their main weapon. The United keeper Van der Saar is an injury doubt but I should think that he will be between the sticks tomorrow night. Definitely out are Nani and L Saha.

Roma will be without their injured captain Totti as well as the suspended Perrotta. Vucinic will start instead of Totti. Last season I would have called the absence of Totti a disaster but not this time around as he has not been as dominant as last season and Roma have not suffered at all, they are still very much title contenders. Of course it would have been better for Roma with Totti playing but it is not the end of the world. 1X in my opinion, and maybe I will opt for the draw alternative (3.10).

Roma 0 Man Utd 2

Schalke 04   -   Barcelona          3.60   -   2.22
First Celtic and now Schalke. Someone obviously wants Barcelona to reach the semi final this season. Not that Barcelona are exactly pleasing their fans at the moment. OK, they are missing their best player Messi, but in my opinion their biggest problem is their lack of character and determination. Or to be precise  - no heart! The way they squandered their 2-0 lead against Betis at the weekend was a perfect example of their poor attitude. Coach Rijkaard was ashamed afterwards. He should be, because his job is to motivate his players. When Barcelona defeated Celtic in Glascow after some impressive offensive football,  I thought that Barca were over their sluggish season, but I was wrong. Their effort against Celtic proved to be an exception.

Tomorrow it looks like Barcelona will be able to field their strongest defence, with both G Milito and probably R Marquez who is a slight doubt and could be that Thuram will replace him again in the central defence. Deco, Messi and Ronaldinho are not available. According to the latest reports Eto'o is a serious doubt and he will have a fitness test on match day. Bojan has been the best Barca forward recently, but no guarantee that he will play from the start tomorrow. Something about physical Germans not being ideal for Bojan, according to Rijkkard.  Hopefully Bojan will start the match.

Schalke were lucky drawing their league game with Karlsruhe at the weekend. Three successive league wins before that and I guess that the Schalke players already had this quarter final on their minds. Kobiashwili or Grossmuller will replace the suspended J Jones tomorrow and Rakitic remains on the sidelines. Schalke drew their home game with Chelsea 0-0, but they were the much better side on the day. They defeated Porto 1-0 and especially in the first half Schalke played some strong offensive football and they could easily have scored more goals. Schalke have nothing to lose tomorrow. Everybody, including this writer, expects Barcelona to be the stronger side over the two legs. Why not a Schalke win by the odd goal tomorrow (3.60) and then Barca have to put on an offensive show in the return leg in Barcelona.

Schalke 0 Barcelona 1

The Championship

Sheffield Wednesday   -   Coventry         2.20   -   3.20
In this six pointer affair I am prepared to back the home win (2.20). Both teams are very much involved in the fight for survival but I think that both will remain in the Championship. Coventry have improved their game since Coleman became their new boss and S W are hard to beat at the moment. One defeat, an unlucky 0-1 loss vs WBA, in their last nine matches. They drew their home game 1-1 with Stoke at the weekend with S W dominating the final 20 minutes of the game. Utility man S Watson had to replace the injured defender R Hinds in the first half and he is ready to play on the Hinds position again. On loan striker Slusarski was never used in the Stoke encounter, with Sahar and Burton playing from the start. Coventry, without their suspended first choice striker L Best, won their home game against Plymouth, 3-1. My intention was to back the highly motivated Coventry side but I lost the impulse when I noticed that L Best was missing. No Leon Best tomorrow either and I will be backing Sheffield W to win this match (2.20).

Sheffield 1 Coventry 1

Chris.