UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

[pariuri]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I'm a big fan of Barca. I hope that they will go in the final.

[Bobbyhead]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Barca to win 1-0,7/1 with Ladbrokes :It's hard to see anything other than a repeat of the 1st leg,with Barca certain to dominate with 70+% possession.Once again Chelsea will defend for the lives,& the longer the game goes on at 0/0, Barca will become increasingly frustrated etc. I just can't see Chelsea holding on,so am taking Barca to win 1/0 in normal time. Chelsea's game plan would not alter too much,as they would still be ok and would try and hold out in extra time,take it to penalties. An early goal though,& I will be screwing my slip into a ball,ready to launch it in the bin!

[turkiye911]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I can see chelsea withstand barcelona for the first 20 mins but eventually they will open up @ camp nou and concede. 7/9 games at the Camp Nou have ended Over 3.5. The 2 that ended under was against Viktoria plzen when guardiola played all the youth players and the other game that went under was against real madrid. I see the trend of goals continue, Chelsea have also scored on 8/9 away games so expect chelsea to score here. especially when barca take a 2-0 lead and chelsea will have to attack which will make them vulnerable at the back and barcelona are unforgiving to teams that attack. Over 2.5 @ 1.51, 9/10 Over 3.5 @ 2.20, 6/10 Goodluck guys!

[Crouch Potato]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I have taken a speculative bet on Draw/Chelsea on the HT/FT market @ 30 (Betfair). Though Barcelona will try to dominate the match teams can resist them from time to time, and a team like Chelsea is much better equipped to do this than a team like Real Zaragoza. If they are able to keep this game level at Half-Time, then the longer the second half goes the more desperate Barcelona will get. Barcelona have to win this game so if Chelsea keep it level for a long time then the home team will be forced to leave massive holes in defence, which is where Chelsea can nick a late goal on the counter and put this type of bet in the winner's category. By no means an obvious choice but I feel it offers situational value.

[jackierubberleg]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

24th Barcelona vs Chelsea There is juicy mother-effin' value in this game, and I'm jumping into it early. Though Chelsea hold a 1 - 0 advantage, and Guardiola saying that Chelsea are the marginal favourites, I disagree completely. They are still underdogs. Di Matteo has been very modest in saying back to Guardiola that its in the balance 50-50, and its anyones. Well Roberto, I give you no more than 35% chance to progress, because I'm bleedin arrogant, I am right. Though Chelsea won like a bunch of retards, you have to give them a little credit. You have to ride your luck against Barcelona, and if you try and outplay them, you'll just get raped. I'd like to see Swansea try and play Barcelona at tiki taka at the Liberty with the fans singing land of my fathers and get raped 0 - 10. But I'm just a hater. ******* plumber graham. But back to the point, you would expect a similar game plan at the Nou camp from Chelsea. Chelsea had rested players for their game against Arsenal so they will be fresh for this one. Mind you, their game plan against Arsenal, a team described by Di Matteo as "similar to Barcelona", was of the same. Almost like training for Tuesday. Nevertheless it worked well and though Arsenal hit the bar and Van Persie glancing the outside of the post, Chelsea got a good 0 - 0 draw. That result takes Chelsea to Munich. Mourinho showed with Inter than you can defend like a turtle even with 10 men against Barcelona and grind out a result and progress. Though in that game Inter had a 3 - 1 first leg lead, but got sent down to 10 men harshly, plus Barcelona had an away goal. No doubt Di Matteo won't win this game pretty. Last year Arsenal went to the Nou camp without a real defensive game play and went to try and boss the game like periods in the first leg. That didn't work so well, and despite best efforts by Busquets drafted into central defense to send Arsenal through, Barcelona won comfortable 3 - 1 in the end. Barcelona had to put out a relatively strong squad, though Pep did have reservations, leaving the likes of Sanchez and Fabregas on the bench and starting more inexperienced counterparts. Barcelona didn't play so well, and I do not remember a single shot on target before Sanchez scrambled home the goal. Though Real's first goal could have been avoided, there was no hiding that Barcelona were poor. Chelsea's squad had marginally more rest, and more players were rested. Barcelona's sole aim is the Champions League. Though even if you want it that much, things sometimes don't go your way. Its not going to be a comfortable night's viewing again. I was going to back Chelsea +1.75 on 188Bet, until I put on 1 unit instead of 10, and made the odds shorten to 1.960. Bollocks I thought. Pinnacle is only offering 1.952, and Betfair's bots are pissing me off competing with me for prices on laying Barcelona. Barcelona look vulnerable. I see Chelsea scoring. Worst case scenario is 3 - 1 in my opinion, in which half stake returned is decent. Chelsea +1.75 188Bet 1.960 10/10

Its not all lifers in a max security prison that read theses posts. Can you please refrain from refering to "retards" and "raping". I for. one object to your gutter writing.

[Ben Fourie]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Chelsea's tactic will be simple tonight: defend and try to score on counter attacks. I think this game will be a remake of first leg and whatever if Barcelona scores quickly, 1-1 perfect draw, Chelsea will defend again and again. But the difference is that I don't see Barcelona hit the post twice and misses a lot of chances like at Stamford Bridge. I saw Barcelona against Madrid and for me it's clear, they don't played at 100% against Madrid, the most important game wasn't Madrid but Chelsea and now the Liga is dead they'll give everything in CL. Ok, same situation for Chelsea but Barcelona is for me clearly better than Chelsea and the first leg is for me a big upset by Blues. I see Barcelona score at least twice tonight and at this moment, Chelsea will be forced to attack. And if by a miracle, Chelsea scores in first so it will be a very open game. Over 2,5 @ 1.60 - 3U

[Fedar]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I see the general view here is that the value lies with Chelsea. I have very much the opposite opinion. We will probably never get any time soon such a good coefficient for "must-win" for Barcelona at home. 1.700 for a "-1.5" handicap for Barcelona for a game where they desperately need two-goal difference at Camp Nou against team which is currently not at their best - I am sorry, but I will take this bet any time without a single doubt. This type of bet would have failed only few times in the last years with this dream team of Barcelona. "Barcelona - Chelsea 0:0" and "Barcelona - Inter 0:0" are the two occasions where it did happen. Let's see which factors were present during these two games and check if they exist now: 1. Barcelona were leaders in the Primera and certain winners. Hence, they had already guaranteed one of the two important trophies. - Now Barca have already failed in the Primera. Champions League is a must-win trophy for them or else the season would be considered failure. 2. Barcelona were on a big winning streak just before the game. Indeed, we have a small exception here - Barca had lost the first game in Milan against Inter, however, it was an exceptional loss, while the Catalons had been winning in a big consequence in the Primera. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that the factor "underestimation" was present among Barcelona's ranks. - Tonight, Barca faces Chelsea after two consecutive defeats (sth unheard of during Guardiola s era), one of them against Real at Camp Nou. In my view, this means only one thing: Barcelona will not show even the least sign of underestimation and lack of concentration. 3. On both occasions, Barcelona opposed teams with great defensive strength and which were in their greatest shape in their domestic leagues. Inter were dominating the Serie A, and Chelsea, while they had poor first half of the season (similar to now), they were absolutely outstanding during Hiddink and were smashing their opposition both in Premiership and CL. Indeed, Chelsea are also improving a lot under Di Mateo. But they are not at all dominating against the other sides in the Premiership. They are still outside "top 4" and they are still struggling a lot in their games. Moreover, their defense is far from solid: they concede a lot and regularly. In sum, I don't see how this team of Chelsea will withstand a fully motivated and concentrated Barcelona. It is obvious for everybody what their strategy will be: park the bus in front and hope for the football Gods to be with them. However, neither their defense is solid enough, not they can rely on Barca's loose concentration or under-estimation. In fact, Barcelona will be furious like wild dogs tonight. I will go for the normal handicap (-1.5), but if the home goal comes early, it would not be surprising or speculative to expect something really ugly to happen to Chelsea. Barcelona -1.5 at 1.75

[ThusPrider]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Its not all lifers in a max security prison that read theses posts. Can you please refrain from refering to "retards" and "raping". I for. one object to your gutter writing.

Sorry, but I would presume most people on here would be mature enough to handle statements such as "Chelsea playing like a bunch of retards". Im sorry if I caused you offense or if the words are very sensitive to you, but that's the way I am and my sense of humour. Please ignor my posts if they continue to cause offense.

[jackierubberleg]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Sorry, but I would presume most people on here would be mature enough to handle statements such as "Chelsea playing like a bunch of retards". Im sorry if I caused you offense or if the words are very sensitive to you, but that's the way I am and my sense of humour. Please ignor my posts if they continue to cause offense.

Absolutley nothing to do with maturity. I am intelligent enough to know that that word is a slant on mentally handicaped people. As for raping, if you think being mature makes that acceptable, you have a very odd outlook.

[Denman]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Think Barcelona are too short once again, think the value is in backing Chelsea to qualify. One goal from the visitors means Barcelona would have to score three. They are of course very capable of that but I haven't been impressed with Barcelona in their last two games, they've looked surprisingly flat for some strange reason. Chelsea will have to be at the top of their game to restrict Barcelona but think they are capable of doing an "Inter Milan" on them.

[Alexc]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Think Barcelona are too short once again' date=' think the value is in backing Chelsea to qualify. One goal from the visitors means Barcelona would have to score three. They are of course very capable of that but I haven't been impressed with Barcelona in their last two games, they've looked surprisingly flat for some strange reason. Chelsea will have to be at the top of their game to restrict Barcelona but think they are capable of doing an "Inter Milan" on them.[/quote'] They looked flat at Chelsea? They controlled the game and should of scored at least two. I don't think they looked flat against Madrid, they just came up against a very good team. I will admit though that their lack of efforts on goal in the second half against Real was quite poor, by Barca standards, anyway.

[Alexc]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Sorry, but I would presume most people on here would be mature enough to handle statements such as "Chelsea playing like a bunch of retards". Im sorry if I caused you offense or if the words are very sensitive to you, but that's the way I am and my sense of humour. Please ignor my posts if they continue to cause offense.

I actually agree with Jack on this. I'd expect a silly young boy to come up with such stuff, not a mature person.

[IAmGooner]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Fully expect a Barca win but the odds look horrific to me. 1.2ish for a straight win 1.4ish to qualify Couldn't be having any of that. We all know how the pattern of the game will go.....Barca will be monopolising possession and relying on Messi to be the game-changer and deliver up front. Chelsea will be defending with everyone bar a striker, and I seriously doubt Drogba can replicate his antics in the Nou Camp where he wont get the little decisions. My guess is a Barca win with at least one game-changing decision in Barca's favour from the referee as has happened in quite a few knockout games over the years for them.

[ThusPrider]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Absolutley nothing to do with maturity. I am intelligent enough to know that that word is a slant on mentally handicaped people. As for raping' date=' if you think being mature makes that acceptable, you have a very odd outlook.[/quote']

[allthethings]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Sorry if I offended so many people' date=' ill edit my post.[/quote'] I hate to admit this, but feel you need some support too...your post made me laugh quite a few times. I'm immature, I guess.

[aloha]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to thank you for your interesting and informative posts. A lot has been said about "who wins / qualifies to the next round". But let me turn your attention to the corner market. We all understand that Barcelona will attack and Chelsea will defend. Barcelona will have plenty of possession, as they usually do. Most likely they will need to use the likes of Dani Alves and Iniesta to expose the defense on the flanks. In the first match it was 1 corner for Chelsea and 8 for Barcelona. Considering the fact, that Barcelona will be desperate to score at least three goals I expect them to beat -5.5 asian corner handicap, which is available at Bet365 at 2.05. Thank you for your attention and good luck with your bets! aloha

[ThusPrider]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

I hate to admit this' date=' but feel you need some support too...your post made me laugh quite a few times. I'm immature, I guess.[/quote'] Thanks, but I know I swear alot in real life. I use some words very lightly, please don't take me too seriously. I'll never grow up.

[Kiddo112]

@sammatterface: OFFICIAL: Uefa confirm the pitch at the Camp Nou is exactly the same dimensions as at Stamford Bridge. UCL regulation - all pitches standard From twitter

[McNasara]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Maybe Chelsea to qualify would be a better choice. It is 2' date='90 at bet-at-home.[/quote'] :welcome:welcome:welcome

[smokeit34]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April whether this will be counted or reasoning or not i dont know. Definitely reason enough for me.... Chelsea @ 8/1 w/ ladbrokes (higher around esp on exchanges). Anyway obviously it is unlikely they will win but its not a game like Man u against a leyton orient or anything like that. Its two of the top teams in the world! I fully expect Barca to win but i will not pass these odds. Its all chelsea are really playing for atm and if they can qualify i would put them fav for the competition. Also they are like a brand new team under di mattio... hope he sticks around BARCELONA UNBEATABLE HAHAHAHAHA thats what the bookies always seem to think, even the likes of real madrid...laughable Also think madrid will be knocked out, play some of the scrapiest and theatrical football ive seem... look like clowns. Chelsea or Barca i dont mind but get real out, then there will be a final of real football :cigar

[Kiddo112]

Barca Playing 3 man defence: @barcastuff: Barcelona line-up (official): Valdes - Pique Mascherano Puyol - Xavi Busquets Iniesta Cesc - Cuenca Messi Alexis #fcblive

[Kiddo112]

No Alves for Barca, and 2 wingers, obviously looking to stretch Chelsea out wide. Good for Barca corners backers I would of thought. Think it is very attacking, and Chelsea know how important a goal would be for them, so I expect them to break in numbers when they get the ball. Liking Chelsea to nick a goal

[Spooner]

I've taken Drogba to be sent off @ 22/1 bluesq. Things could quite easily go wrong for Chelsea and is odds on to do so, Drogba will be frustrated upfront on his own as I expect Chelsea to see even less of the ball this week, thinking back to the '08 final where he got done for an elbow on Vidic and also lost his cool at full time in a match v Barcelona a few years ago. This will likely be his last appearance in the champions league for Chelsea so if he wants to lose his rag at the end he might just do that.

[gregpicard]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Chelsea DNB (9-1 @ bet365) I've taken a punt on this. I expect a repeat of the first leg, with Chelsea sitting back and defending like hell while Barca hog all of the possession. Now playing at the Nou Camp is going to give them a huge advantage, much wider etc will suit their play. But i still think the Chelsea back line will be strong enough to cope. If they can get through to the first half at 0-0, that'll be a huge boost. With Barca having to go all out and attack, also wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea catch them on the counter and nick a goal. Void if a draw so willing to take the chance of Chelsea being able to at least hold Barca to a draw.

[inchicore_saint]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I layed under 2.5 goals at 2.68 on Betfair so Im hoping for an early goal to cash out with some profit. If Chelsea are ahead before half time I'm going to back Barca.

[Denman]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

They looked flat at Chelsea? They controlled the game and should of scored at least two. I don't think they looked flat against Madrid' date=' they just came up against a very good team. I will admit though that their lack of efforts on goal in the second half against Real was quite poor, by Barca standards, anyway.[/quote'] They had a couple of golden chances true, but they didn't look quite the same to me. They seemed content to pass the ball around and not really probe the Chelsea defense that much. I know Real Madrid are a good team as well, but at home you'd have expected Barca to win but they didn't Real Madrid played perfectly against them on the break and in all truth Barcelona created very little in terms of chances in that game, especially in the second half as you mention. No doubting this Barcelona team is a superb side but given their last two games and the ridiculously short price. They are definitely worth opposing in my opinion.

[allthethings]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April I find it typical how many punters think tonight will be a repeat of the first leg. This is how the bookies get you.

[inchicore_saint]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Should have waited till have time I cashed in at 2-0 but still made a good profit.

[gambletastic]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April

Should have waited till have time I cashed in at 2-0 but still made a good profit.

Can you explain how that works, bud? The lay, then the cash out. Sorry for the non game related post, folks.

[HastGill1]

Re: UEFA Champions League > Semi-Final 2nd Leg > Tuesday 24 April Get in there, enjoyed that :nana..saw Barca being matched at 1.08 to qualify on betfair at one point..