My pick will still remain as Internaz ionale to beat either Barcelona or an English team in the Final in Moscow.
Group A
Bookies favourite Liverpool
stuttered but qualified second and the bookies second favourite; Porto topped the group ensuring an easier game in the KO
stages.
Marseille drop into the UEFA Cup.
Liverpool
**Win it all –
Ladbrokes 9/1 – 11/1 – after a poor start to the Group Stage the odds have
lengthened on the reds.
Porto
Win
it all – Ladbrokes 9/1 – 50/1 – now they are rank outsiders?
This is what I said in August:
“Liverpool look group favourites
but Porto will be tough.”
Group B
Bookies favourite Chelsea won the group
comfortably but the bookies other pick goes home. Schalke did well to finish second and
Rosenborg can be thankful for UEFA Cup football in the New Year.
Chelsea
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 6/1 – 8/1 – despite dominance in the group the odds go out – maybe
it’s Mr. Grant?
Schalke 04
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 40/1 – 40/1 – not quite the rank outsiders anymore.
This is what I said in August:
“Chelsea should be pushed by Schalke in this
group.”
Group C
Bookies picked correctly again
with Real topping the group. Olympiakos
confounded the bookies with a second place finish and Werder Bremen drop into the UEFA Cup.
Real Madrid
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 9/1 – 8/1 – shortened with a decent showing in the Group Stages.
Olympiakos
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 150/1 – 50/1 – Rank outsiders.
This is what I said in August:
“Real Madrid clear favourites in Group C.”
Group D
Bookies favourite AC Milan topped
the group with Celtic, finishing above Benfica to confound the bookies. The Portuguese side drop into the UEFA
Cup.
AC Milan
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 8/1 – 10/1 – Maybe their Serie A form can explain the lengthening of
the odds.
Celtic
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 100/1 – 50/1 – rank outsiders.
This is what I said in August:
“AC Milan is clear favourites in
this group.”
Group E
Bookies do it again with the
correct pick of Barcelona
to top the group and Lyon to come second; they are confounded with a Rangers
third place and the Scottish side can look forward to the UEFA Cup in the New
Year.
Barcelona
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 9/2 – 4/1 – shortened but not too significantly.
Lyon
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 18/1 – 20/1 – lengthened to a team with a puncher’s chance.
This is what I said in August:
“Barcelona
could be pushed hard by Lyon.”
Group F
Manchester United did the bookies
proud with a comfortable win as did AS Roma with a second place. Sporting drop into the UEFA Cup in a perfect
group for the bookies.
Manchester United
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 6/1 – 5/1 – significantly shortened after going unbeaten in the Group
Stage
Roma
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 21/10 – 16/1 – shortened a touch.
This is what I said in August:
“Possibly the toughest
group. The Mancs to scrape in.”
Group G
A topsy turvey group for the
bookies, they got Inter spot on but gaffed with Fenerbache coming second and
PSV going into the UEFA Cup.
Internaz ionale
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 8/1 – 9/1 – surprisingly lengthened.
That’s a really odd one.
Fenerbache
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 200/1 – 50/1 – rank outsiders.
This is what I said in August:
“Internaz ionale are clear
favourites.”
Group H
The Bookies favourite finished
second with the bookies third favourite winning the group. One for the punter. Slavia Prague gets a shot at the UEFA
Cup.
Arsenal
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 18/1 – 8/1 – Seriously shortened.
Sevilla
Win it all -
Ladbrokes 20/1 – 10/1 – A bet now is not as good value as a bet in August.
This is what I said in August:
“Arsenal are favourites but will
be pushed if Sevilla beat AEK.”
So how will the draw work and how will the odds change?
Group winners become the Seeded
clubs:
AC Milan, Barcelona,
Internaz ionale, Real, Chelsea, Manchester
United, Porto, Sevilla.
Two English (or other nations)
sides to play each other.
Two sides who have met in the
group stages to play each other.
Winners don’t play winners and
second place finishers don’t play each other.
Someone high up in UEFA will draw
some balls from a bowl and pick the runners up names first. then someone will work out who they can play
and someone else high up in UEFA will pick from those team using a bowl and
some balls. All really high tech and glamorous.
The second placed teams play at
home first and the ties are two legged.
I’ll check the Ladbrokes odds
after the draw and we’ll see how they’ll change.
**All
Ladbrokes odds are from 31/08/2007 and then 20/12/2007.
UEFA CUP DRAW
No predictions from me for this
season’s UEFA Cup. I am proud and happy
to see the Toffees won out in their group and that despite qualifying top of
their group in only three games managed to travel to Holland and win without a number of senior
players. Bordeaux were the other team to win all four
games in their group. Bayern Munich qualified
top of their group but did it with the least amount of points for a group
winner.
Group Winners:-
A – Everton FC
B – Atletico Madrid (Good Old
Mattress Makers!)
C – Villarreal
D – Hamburg
E – Bayer Leverkusen
F – Bayern Munich
G – Getafe
H – Bordeaux
Second place sides:-
A – Nurnberg
B – Panathinaikos
C - Fiorentina
D – Basle
E – Spartak Moscow
F – Braga
G – Tottenham
H – Helsingborgs
Third place teams:
A – Zenit St Petersburg
B – Aberdeen (Go The Dons!)
C – AEK Athens
D – SK Brann
E – Zurich
F – Bolton
Wanderers
G – Anderlecht
H – Galatasaray
Champions League Losers:
It
must be noted that I think the practice of rewarding these teams that are
basically losers with a berth in the UEFA Cup to be utterly stupid. I loathe the practice and would love Monsieur
Platini to just stop it.
Marseille
Rosenborg
Werder Bremen
Benfica
Rangers
Sporting Lisbon
PSV Eindhoven
Slavia Prague
So how will the draw work?
The process is much simpler than
the other competition. The only caveat
is that same associations won’t play each other in the first KO stage. Winners play third places teams (matches 1
through 8) and second placed teams play Champions League Losers (matches 9
through 16).
Group Winners and Champions
League Losers play the first game of the two legged tie away from home.
THEN…
For some reason UEFA pick the
teams for the next KO stage. winner
match X will play winner match Y with the first team drawn getting to play the
first leg of a two legged tie at home.
They will pull paper from a bowl until all eight ties are sorted
out.
Current Odds. (As given by
Ladbrokes on 20/12/2007)
The odds are clearly not just
based on group performance – but note that no Champions League Loser gets a
spot in the top six. I’ll update the
odds after the draw has been made.
Bayern Munich 3/1
Tottenham 9/1
Atletico Madrid
8/1
Villarreal 12/1
Everton FC 12/1 – below Spurs?–
flying below the radar again.
