Champions League: Tuesday Preview and Picks
By SHAWN YOUNG
Nine-time European champion Real Madrid was knocked out of this tournament Wednesday. The other teams want to keep playing. Such is life. I don’t get it.
Chelsea (-1 +110, 2.5 goals under -120) vs. Inter Milan
Chelsea beat West Ham 4-2 on Saturday; Inter lost 3-1 at Catania on Friday.
Inter won the first leg 2-1 in Milan.
Coaches don’t score goals, but I’m putting my money on Inter +1 because their coach is a special one. Jose Mourinho is back in London to defeat his former club Chelsea. His pre-match preparations, unheard of in soccer, resemble the coaching players get in the NFL.
Mourinho has been referring to himself in the third person during interviews, so you know he’s confident. As Chelsea manager, he never lost at home in three years.
“Everybody knows Mourinho doesn’t lose at Stamford Bridge”, Mourinho opined.
Mourinho just finished serving a suspension in Italy. Inter’s domestic form has been poor with only one win in the last six games in Serie A. Inter still leads the table, however, and the European Cup is the one they really want.
Chelsea seems to have shaken off a Feb. 27 loss to Manchester City. That said, this task is much tougher:
Chelsea are built to come from behind, unless the opponents are playing scared. Chelsea are behind here, and the Special One’s men are anything but scared.
Ricardo Carvalho is fit for Chelsea. The long term injury list remains the same, with both Petr Cech and Hilario unable to play in goal, Michael Essien and Jose Bosingwa out with bad knees, and Ashley Cole nursing an injured ankle.
Pick: Chelsea 1, Inter 1
Sevilla (-1 evens, 2.5 goals under -30) vs. CSKA Moscow
Sevilla drew Deportivo 1-1 on Saturday; CSKA beat Amkar Perm 1-0 on Friday.
The first leg in Moscow was a 1-1 draw.
CSKA need at least one goal here to have any chance at advancing, so they will have to play an open style. That’s going to let Sevilla rip the Russians apart.
Sevilla struggles when other teams try and bottle them up, but they have plenty of weapons in a back-and-forth game.
This will be only CSKA’s fourth competitive match of the calendar year including a Super Cup loss to Rubin Kazan. Their transition game and finishing still needs work. The players’ conditioning should be good, but needs to be proven.
Sevilla’s home crowd is fierce. CSKA coughed up goals on the road in the last five minutes of each group stage match. Over goals looks a good bet along with Sevilla.
Pick: Sevilla 3, CSKA 0