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Thursdays Soccer – By Chris.

UEFA Cup - quarter finals, first leg

Bayer Leverkusen   -   Zenit         1.65   -  5.85
Evenly matched sides and I do not understand why Bayer have become such firm favourites. To reach this quarter final Zenit have defeated both Marseille and Villarreal and the present Spanish vice champions, Villarreal, are definitely stronger than Bayer. The Germans have lost their last two league games, an expected loss against Bayern Munich and then a poor result at the weekend, 0-2 at home to Frankfurt. Haggui, B Schneider and Gekas were not included in the starting line up against Frankfurt but they should be back for this match. The first two will play from the start, but maybe Gekas will start on the bench. Kiessling probably preferred up front, with Schneider, Barnetta and Barbarez backing him up.

Zenit have played three rounds in the Russian league and they suffered their first defeat a couple of days ago, 1-3 at home to Rubin Kazan. Rubin are top of the Russian league at the moment on maximum points. I checked the Zenit line up and there was fit again Arshavin, leading UEFA Cup striker Pogrebnyak, Zyrianov, Shirokov and Anyukov. When they lost to Rubin they conceded the three goals in a crazy eight minute spell. No doubt that they are missing their former defender  M Skrtel, who now is giving 100% in the Liverpool defence. Tomorrow  Zenit will have the previously suspended Kim Dong Jin back. Maybe Bayer will win this match by the odd goal (1.65) and then I will be prepared to back Zenit in Petersburg with odds on the other side of evens, I should think.

Bayern Leverkusen 1 Zenit 4

Bayern Munich   -   Getafe          1.50   -   8.00
The likely winners of this UEFA Cup, Bayern,  will have fit again defender Demichelis back for this quarter final. Van Bommel is a major injury doubt and he could be replaced by A Ottl while  L Podolski should be OK. Could be that Podolski will preferred to M Klose alongside Luca Toni up front.

Getafe have struggled with injuries all season long, but at the moment they are practically injury free. Pablo Hernandez, Belenguer and Celestini will all be available tomorrow and only C Diaz is still missing. His colleague in defence, L Licht, is out suspended. Signorino will come in for Licht and we will probably see M Alvarez on the Diaz position.  Up front Getafe will start with Uche and Albin. Getafe have been fantastic this season. This little club has not only reached this far in the UEFA Cup, they will also play the Spanish cup final with Valencia. They have lost their last two league games however, perhaps signs of fatigue or maybe this quarter final against the cup favourites has been on the mind of their players for some time? Likely home win, but personally I could never use this paltry price (1.50). Getafe are better than that. 

Bayern Munich 1 Getafe 1

Fiorentina   -   P S V       1.91   -   4.50
Key players Mutu, Liverani, Gamberini and Pasqual will all be back to play for the home side tomorrow. They are needed, because Fiorentina have not been convincing lately. Both Milan and Fiorentina have under achieved for the last couple of weeks and teams like Udinese and Sampdoria are now challenging the duo in Serie A. Questionable Fiorentina form in other words, but they are still a formidable home side. They gave Everton for example, no chance on their visit to Florence.

PSV are five points ahead of Ajax in the Dutch league but they are only 1-3-1 in their last five league games, including a 0-0 draw with Ajax. Their squad is practically injury free, only missing Aissati. PSV are my favourites over the two legs, but 1X tomorrow. Maybe I will opt for the draw alternative (3.10).

Fiorentina 1 PSV 1

Glasgow Rangers   -   Sporting Lisbon     2.15  - 3.65
It is usually a very good idea to back Rangers in their home fixtures. They win their home games 1-0 and then  they shut up shop in their away fixtures. OK, they drew their home game with Panathinaikos 0-0, and in the return leg they were 0-1 down, but fought back quite impressively (1-1). They are a bit defensive W Smith's Rangers, often only using one striker, but hey, you cannot knock success. At the weekend Rangers defeated arch rivals Celtic and the score line was 1-0 of course.  Their season has so far been just great, favourites to win the title and involved in all the cup tournaments.. Both Hemdani and Kevin Thomson have declared themselves fit for this match. Sporting are a typical home team in my eyes, but at the weekend they managed an away win, 4-1 at Naval in the Portugese league. Their striker Tiui was injured in the first half and he was replaced by Yannick Djalo. One of their goal scorers was Djalo and he will continue up front tomorrow alongside Liedson. Sporting have travelled to Scotland with a 20 man squad, only missing Tiui. I have Rangers as winners in this first leg (2.15).

Rangers 0 Sporting Lisbon 0

Chris.