My sexy single finally got back to winning ways last night as Forest overcame Rotherham with a comfortable 2.0 win but it was the action in Barcelona that grabbed everyones attention and ultimately cost me from profiting on the night with my deadly double. Quite how that game finished 1.0 is beyond me and my BTTS and over 2.5 goals bet really should have been a winner when you consider the missed penalty for city and the remarkable performance of Joe Hart to limit Barcelona to the one goal. I would have won an extra 9 points had the BTTS and over 25 goals market ocurred here with the other part of my double (Forest to score 2 or more) coming in comfortably before half time. It was however an absolute masterclass from the best player in the history of the game as Lionel Messi controlled, bamboozled and dominated City all on his own for large chunks of the game and while I did not win any extra cash, it was a pleasure to watch such a genius at work. Messi is clearly back to his absolute best with 20 goals since the turn of the year alone, and watching him last night he seemed to be from another planet. "Literally" as Jamie Redknapp might say without a hint of irony.
His touch, control, poise and balance is without compare. Surely there can be no doubt that while Ronaldo had the better season last year, Messi is now THE man and in this kind of form, I cannot see how Barcelona will not win "el Clasico" on Sunday evening and I plan on steaming in on Messi to score on Sunday and a Barca win against fragile opponents who should be vulnerable in the Camp Nou. Getting back to the action ahead, tonight sees the second legs of our last 16 ties in the Europa League and I am looking for goals and some exciting encounters to make our final taste of midweek european football for a few weeks a decidely sweet one. Everton will not relish their trip to Kiev as the lone suriving British team in European competition and they will need to be at their best if they are to progress on to the quarter finals. I will post some previews for all the action later today and hopefully we can finish the midweek action on a high after 2 days of hits and misses that resulted in an even return on my stakes. Here are tonight's fixtures an d my previews for the early kick offs. 18:00 Dinamo Moscow v Napoli 19:00 Ajax v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 19:00 Dynamo Kyiv vs Everton 19:00 Roma vs Fiorentina 21:05 Inter vs Wolfsburg 21:05 Sevilla vs Villarreal 21:05 Besiktas v Club Brugge 21:05 Torino v Zenit St Petersburg 18:00 Dinamo Moscow v Napoli - Prediction 1.2- Best Bet - Avoid It's an early kick off in Moscow so that allows me to leave this one out and focus on the other games kicking off at 7.00pm and 9.05pm. No bet here. 19:00 Ajax v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk - Prediction - Best Bet - AVOID This is another tie that has too many questions and too few answers with Ajax the favourites but Dnipro are something of a dark horse in this tournament so for me, this is a no bet encounter. Fun. 19:00 Dynamo Kyiv vs Everton- Prediction 2.2- Best Bet - BTTS @4/5 Everton are Britain's sole remaining team in Europe which when you consider we are only half way through March is a pretty big fall from grace when you also consider the achievements of years gone by and it will be a big ask for Everton to keep our representation alive tonight. Kiev are very strong at home and I cannot be sure which team is going to progress but I think Everton are capable of scoring in this one so the BTTS on offer @4/5 does hold some appeal. I think Everton have a good shot at progress but they are surely going to need to score at least 1 to do so and with the tie so finely poised, I am going for goals in this one with the BTTS my preferred option. 19:00 Roma vs Fiorentina- Prediction 1.1- Best Bet - Fiorentina to qualify @ 7/4, draw @9/4 The king of the draws Roma are back in action tonight and this is a match-up that should be tightly contested and a low scoring draw is my expectation with extra time and penalties a possibility. Both sides were in action on Monday with Roma crashing to a 2.0 defeat at home to Sampdoria and were booed off the park by the Roman faithful, while Fiorentina collected 3 points in a win over Milan and come into this one in much the better form. While I think this could be a draw, I do fancy Fiorentina to qualify ultimately, simply because of Roma's woeful form and you can get a fine 7/4 on the men from Florence conquering Rome tonight and that is a price I like very very much. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Early suggested bets Fiorentina to qualify @7/4 D Kiev v Everton - BTTS @4/5 Comments are closed.
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