UEFA Cup - AC Milan v UEFA Cup Winner

20 February 2009

Preview By Tipster rdeacon (England)

Well, I don't mind admitting that I like a long range punt, and that in these types of competitions it often pays to have a portfolio of bets to keep you going to the final, in the hope that you have a very nice price about a team (or 2 teams if you're really lucky) in the final, and then you can trade out, or just go for glory.

My 3 teams against the field for UEFA cup glory this year are AC Milan, PSG and Ajax. 3 teams from three different countries, each of which have a glorious tradition in europe, and each of whoch have actually won the more prestigious european cup in their time.

The prices are nice, and being staked correctly, we should end up with a decent position in which to trade out later with a tidy profit.

The funny thing is abou this competition and the thing that made me laugh out loud was Skybets price on Man City. They are 8.0 2nd favourites to win this cup. Now In my book ( and of course I could be prooved wrong come May ) this is an unbeleivably short price, given where they are in the league, and their current poor form. Anyway these are my picks.

AC Milan - Whether Beckham stays at the club or not, they are deserved favourites, and by losing to Inter at the weekend, they are pretty light of anything to really go for. 11 points behind in the league, and out of domestic cup competitions, they will want to cement their champions league place for next year and win the UEFA cup pretty much in that order. They have a fabulous line up of stars in their side, and the likes of Nesta, Zambrotta, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Seedorf, Pirlo, Beckham and Pato would pretty much walk into most of the top flight teams across europe. They have to get past a poor Bremen side, and then will face the winners of Olympiakos or St Etienne and they are in the last 8. This should be straight forward.

PSG - Just 4 points behind Lyon, and a real feeling that they could push all the way this season to end the dominance of the side that has won Ligue 1 for the last umpteen years. This is probably why their price is so generous, as most bookies think that maybe their efforst will be concentrated elsewhere. It will be a massive boost for any team to win the UEFA cup though, and with Makelele at the helm steadying the ship, they could well get past Wolfsburg and either Braga or Liege and get to the last 8 getting stronger.

Ajax - 12 points behind runaway leaders Alkmaar in the Eredivise, this side conjours up more memories of european glory than any other team, bar possibly Liverpool and Madrid. Now managed by the legend that is Marco Van Basten, and with a certain D Bergkamp in the wings, this could be the Ajax side that emerges from the shadows, and takes everyone by surprise. To the layman, there are no superstars in teh side and, as ever it is full of promising young talent. What better way to express that talent by winning the largest cup in europe, even if it is not the one they really want to win...yet. A tricky tie against Fiorentina would see them play either Marseille or local rivals twente in the last 16 who they should have the measure of, given their league form.

7 points Milan to win UEFA Cup @ 5.5 with Coral

1.5 points PSG to win UEFA Cup @ 67.0 with Skybet

1.5 points Ajax to win UEFA Cup @ 51.0 with BSQ