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Thursdays Soccer – By Chris

UEFA Cup quarter finals - second leg

Getafe   -   Bayern Munich        3.68  -   2.30
Quite a last seven days for Getafe. They visited two of the top teams in Europe, Bayern Munich and Barcelona and they returned to Madrid with two draws in the bag. Down 0-1 against Bayern it did not look good for Laudrup's team, but as Bayern failed to take any of their first half chances, Getafe were able to equalise very late in the game. Getafe should have been dead and buried at that time, but that is a concern for Bayern, not Getafe. Granero will be suspended for Getafe which is a big blow and both Pablo Hernandez and Mario Alvarez were injured in the Barcelona encounter and they will be missing tomorrow. All three played in the first leg.

Bayern have no major injury problems to deal with as only Van Buyten and H Altintop are missing. Podolski and Luca Toni started up front a week ago but tomorrow M Klose will rejoin Toni in the front line. This is it for Bayern, one of the strongest sides in Europe. In my opinion their class will tell when it really matters. I am backing the away win (2.30).

Getafe 3 Bayern Munich 3

P S V    -   Fiorentina         2.20    -   3.85
PSV are a very experienced side at this level and drawing 1-1 in Florence was a great achievement. Fiorentina are a terrific home side but not the same force away from home.  Fiorentina defeated Everton with ease 2-0 in their home fixture, but were more or less outplayed in Liverpool in the return leg. How ambitious PSV will be tomorrow is of course another question. A 0-0 draw will send them through. When they were 1-0 up against Tottenham, PSV were close to a 0-0 result, but Berbatov found a late winner for Tottenham. Hopefully PSV have realised that they have to go for the win wholeheartedly this time.  Both Aissati and Alcides could be back for PSV but they will  be without two important players, Afellay and Farfan.

Fiorentina will include Santana, Gamberini and Ujfalusi in their squad and only Semioli is still on the sidelines. Mutu, Santana and Pazzini (or Vieri) up front. With key players Afellay and Farfan available, I would have suggested the PSV win as more or less a banker. Still my choice will be the home win (2.20). A 0-0 result is not unthinkable.

PSV 0 Fiorentina 2

Sporting Lisbon   -   Glasgow Rangers        1.88   -   5.14
Without any major problems at all, Sporting were able to play out a 0-0 draw in Glasgow. Just the result that they were looking for and I guess that they are pretty confident ahead of this second leg. I think that they will be winners tomorrow (1.88).

Their influential centre back Anderson Polga is out of this match and he will be replaced by his country man, Gladstone, who will be joining Tonel in their central defence. The domestic Sporting form is just great, winning three league games on the bounce.

Rangers will be without their suspended defender D Weir, with C Dailly as his likely replacement. Another defender Cuellar has declared himself fit to play. Also fit is their striker D Cousin and coach Smith has all four strikers available for this match. Too bad that he is only using one at a time. Sporting to win! (1.88).

Sporting 0 Rangers 2

Zenit   -   Bayer Leverkusen        2.10   -   3.75
This contest is over after the fantastic Zenit performance in Germany. They were 4-1 winners and Bayer just could not control the fast, technical Zenit players. The problems continued for Bayer at the weekend when they lost a woeful game against B Dortmund 1-2. Bayer were 1-0 up with some five minutes to go. Talk about a morale sapping loss.

Zenit drew their league game at the weekend and they have only won one of their four league games this far.  But and it is a big but, they have excelled in the UEFA Cup and after Villarreal and Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen will be their third victims.

The outcome of this rather indifferent game? Both teams will rest players, be assured of that and a lack of motivation is another factor to take into consideration. Bayer are already talking about their important league fixture this coming weekend with European rivals Stuttgart. In my mind the better value is on the home win (2.10).

Zenit 0 Bayer Leverkusen 1

Chris.