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Thursdays Soccer – By Chris.

UEFA Cup semi finals - second legs

Fiorentina   -  Glasgow Rangers         1.67  -  6.40
"Ugly football from Rangers" in the first leg, according to the Fiorentina ace Mutu. Well it will not be any prettier tomorrow. Fiorentina were the dominant side in Glasgow, but they did not really threaten that much. And Rangers? Well, they were happy defending, first and foremost looking to keep a clean sheet. They played like it was an away fixture. Rangers have played their best football in Europe away from this season, with positive results from their visits to Lyon, Panathinaikos and Sporting Lisbon. Why should they fear Fiorentina? For Rangers both their skipper B Ferguson and K Thomson will be back from suspensions. With their central defender D Weir is an injury worry and it looks like C Dailly could join Cuellar in the central defence. I would suggest that Dailly is a safety risk but reports this morning suggest that Weir has made ‘an amazing recovery’ and may well start the game after all.

Fiorentina welcome back their striker Pazzini and their defender Gobbi, but lose Vieri and Pasqual. Donadel returns from his previous suspension. Pazzini amd Mutu will be joined by one of Santana or Semioli up front. My first idea before I knew about the odds was the home win, but one thing I do know is that this 1.67 is a ludicrous price. Fiorentina have no experience at this level. They have already demonstrated bad nerves by conceding in the 94th minute against Sampdoria at the weekend. It was a terrible blow with Milan gaining two points on Fiorentina. There is no value in the home win at all (1.67). Maybe I will make some kind of special bets, draw at half time and away win at full time, or even draw at half time and home win. Rangers will defend from the word go and then they will be trying to hit Fiorentina in the last half hour of the game.

Fiorentina 0 Rangers 0

Zenit   -   Bayern Munich         3.95   -     2.10
One thing was obvious last week. The bookmakers once again underestimated Zenit. This great Russian side matched Bayern all the way (1-1) and 8.00 on the away win last week was a great price. Unfortunately Zenit will be missing too many suspended players for their own good tomorrow. Their Russian international striker Arshavin and both the defensive players Ricksen and Sirl are out of this match. Ricksen, who replaced the injured Anyukov last week. Hopefully, but only hopefully Anyukov will be back, or else veteran defender Gorshkov (38 years old) will be involved.

Bayern come to this second leg with all their big guns available. Luca Toni, O Kahn, M Klose, F Ribery and P Lahm will all play. Ribery started on the bench at the weekend against Stuttgart, but came on in the second half and he killed off Stuttgart with two goals. Ribery and Toni, well Bayern cannot do without them. My idea was to back Zenit (terrific odds: 3.95),  but they will not be in perfect shape tomorrow and I will refrain from this bet. A high scoring game perhaps?

Zenit 4 Bayern Munich 0

Chris.