Bayern has been trying to get information about Getafe and how they play. Franck Ribery has talked to his France teammates Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry about Getafe. “They told me that Getafe is a good team with plenty of skill and that it’s difficult to play at their stadium,” Ribery said. “That’s why it’s important for us to win our home game and the best would be not to concede a goal. We’ll have to attack and press forward.” Bayern will likely be missing striker Lucas Podolski who is doubtful with an ankle injury. Getafe is not playing well in the Spanish League this season but their form in the UEFA Cup has been much better. Getafe has already defeated Benfica and AEK Athens in addition to Anderlecht and Tottenham. Getafe is also playing in the Copa del Rey final on April 16. “This locker room transmits confidence,” Getafe president Angel Torres said. “And in reality, the locker room is the key to everything.”

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Leverkusen sits in fourth place in the Bundesliga, trailing Bayern by 10 points. The team will have to deal with Zenit striker Pavel Pogrebnyak if they expect to win.

Fiorentina is trying to qualify for next year’s Champions League and sits in fourth place in Serie A. “Europe motivates us a lot,” Fiorentina midfielder Massimo Gobbi said. “Like we’ve always said, it’s important to keep advancing.” PSV will be relying upon goalkeeper Gomes to keep them in the game on Thursday. He was excellent against NEC Nijmegen on Sunday in a scoreless draw in league action. “Gomes kept us in the game with a number of crucial saves,” PSV coach Sef Vergoossen said. “He is a great goalkeeper, someone who does that little bit special.”

Sporting Lisbon comes into Thursday’s quarterfinal not playing well in the Portuguese league and they will be without goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic. They will probably be without striker Rodrigo Tiui who is doubtful with a knee injury. Sporting will have their hands full with a talented Rangers team that leads the Scottish League.

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Sporting Lisbon also advanced on Thursday as they beat Bolton 1-0 and advanced 2-1 on aggregate. Rangers easily could have lost by more than a goal to the German squad but Bremen just couldn’t put away their chances. “One, two three goals, we had the chances, but we didn’t do it,” Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said. “The fact is we aren’t scoring those goals.” Daniel Jensen and Sebastian Boensisch missed wide while Hugo Almeida missed over the bar. Tim Borowski missed from short range as well. Late in the match Jensen and Boubacar Sanogo could not convert. The shots for the game were 35-4 in favor of Bremen. “This is massive for the club, Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor said, “Even at the start of the Champions League draw nobody expected us to get here. We’ve dug deep tonight and that’s what was needed.”

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Sporting Lisbon advanced against Bolton when Bruno Pereirinha scored in the 85th minute. Sporting and Bolton played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Bolton rested several players as they are focusing on avoiding regulation in the Premier League. Manager Gary Megson rested players Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Noland, El Hadji Diouf and Ivan Campo. Bolton takes on Wigan in the Premier League on Sunday in a key match.

On Wednesday, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit St. Petersburg, PSV Eindhoven, Fiorentina and Getafe advanced. Bayern Munich lost 2-1 to Anderlecht but already had won the first leg 5-0 so the game was virtually meaningless. Leverkusen survived a 3-2 loss at Hamburger SV to go through on away goals. “We were lucky to advance today,” Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe said. “This wasn’t completely deserved – but this is another sign of a young team’s steady development.” Zenit St. Petersburg beat Marseille 2-0 to advance. PSV defeated Tottenham in a penalty shootout to advance. Tottenham coach Juande Ramos was trying to win the UEFA Cup for the third straight season.

The Spurs trailed late 1-0 but Dimitar Berbatov scored in the 81st minute to tie it but PSV won the shootout. “It was a beautiful game but we sort of made it difficult for ourselves in the beginning,” PSV captain Timmy Simons said. Everton came back to get it even 2-2 on aggregate against Fiorentina with goals by Andrew Johnson and Mikel Arteta, but Aiyegbeni Yakubu missed in the shootout. “Sometimes you don’t get your just desserts,” Everton midfielder Phil Neville said. “We created enough chances to win two or three games.” Juan Angel Albin scored in the 78th minute to lead Getafe 1-0 over Benfica and 3-1 on aggregate. Getafe has looked like the main challenger to Bayern Munich in this year’s UEFA Cup and they will get their chance in the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals have Rangers taking on Sporting, Bayern Munich vs. Getafe, Fiorentina vs PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Leverkusen vs. Zenit St. Petersburg.

Bayern Munich should have no trouble moving into the quarterfinals of the Soccer Betting UEFA Cup as they won 5-0 at Anderlecht on Thursday in the first leg of Round of 16 play. That should put them through easily into the next round and allow them to rest players in the second leg. Marseille also looks good after they got a 3-1 win against Zenit St. Petersburg in the first leg. Marseille got two goals from Djibril Cisse in the victory.

Bayern started early against Anderlecht as Hamil Altintop scored in the first 10 minutes. Marcin Wasilewski was sent off with a second yellow card for Anderlecht in the first half and any hopes Anderlecht had were over. Luca Toni made it 2-0 before the half. Toni will not play in the second leg for Bayern as he will be suspended but it won’t matter since Bayern has such a huge lead. Lukas Podolski scored in the 57th minute while Miroslav Klose scored 10 minutes later. Franck Ribery ended the scoring in the 86th minute.

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PSV Eindhoven won at Tottenham 1-0 as Jefferson Farfan scored the only goal in the 34th minute. The goal resulted from a bad giveaway by Defender Gilberto, who was making his debut for the Spurs. PSV dominated the game and easily could have won by more than just a goal. Fiorentina beat visiting Everton 2-0 as Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Riccardo Montolivo both scored. Bolton and Sporting Lisbon played to a 1-1 draw. Simon Vukcevic scored for Sporting. Getafe won at Benfica 2-1 as Ruben De la Red and Pablo Hernandez scored. Rangers beat Werder Bremen 2-0 as Daniel Cousin and Steve Davis has goals. Bayer Leverkusen beat Hamburg 1-0 on a goal by Fanis Gekas.

The second legs of the UEFA Cup round of 16 will be played next Wednesday and Thursday. The quarterfinal draw will then be held on Friday.

Players to watch out for in 2010 World Cup European Qualifying Group 1:

Portugal: Nuno Gomes of Benfica, Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United, Nani of Manchester United, Duda of Sevilla, Bruno Alves of FC Porto, Joao Moutinho of Sporting Lisbon, Deco of FC Barcelona.

Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Inter Milan, Markus Rosenberg of Werder Bremen, Marcus Allback of FC Copenhagen, Kim Kallstrom of Olympique Lyon, Christian Wilhelmsson of Bolton Wanderers.

Hungary: Tamas Priskin of Watford FC, Robert Feczesin of Brescia Calcio, Ronald Juhasz of Anderlecht, Zoltan Gera of West Brom Albion, Daniel Tozser of AEK Athens FC.

Odds to qualify to 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa from Group 1:

Portugal 4/5

Sweden 15/8

Denmark 9/2

Hungary 40/1

Albania 300/1

Malta 2500/1

Poland leads Group A with 24 points. However, with only 2 teams from Group A moving on to the Euro 2008 Finals in Austria and Switzerland on June 2008, it looks like the race will be tight between Portugal and Finland.

Portugal hope to improve their record this October 17 with an away match against Kazakhstan. Portugal has beaten Kazakhstan 3-0 back in November 2006, and are confident that they can produce another winning result to give them a full 3 points, and improve their standing to 23, just one behind Group A leaders Poland. Finland was only able to improve their standings by 1 point after drawing with Belgium 0-0. Finland does not have a match on October 17, and won’t have the opportunity to improve their standings in Group A of the UEFA Euro 2008.

Finland’s next match won’t be until November 17 when they host Azerbaijan, and then a crucial match against Portugal on November 21 which might be the defining match to find out if it will be Finland or Portugal who will advance.

Portugal’s will be relying on their star studded line-up to deliver, which includes the likes of Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo from English Premier League champions Manchester United, Deco of Spanish La Liga club Barcelona, and Nuno Gomes of Portuguese La Liga club Benfica. Portugal’s coach Luiz Felipe Scolari won’t be at the bench as he will be forced to watch from the stands to serve the second game of a three-match suspension

To bet on Portugal vs. Kazakhstan and other group stage qualifiers of the UEFA Euro 2008, click here.

The start of the match saw AC Milan having more possession of the ball, and accordingly had a number of attempts on the Celtic goal. Milan’s Kaka and Andrea Pirlo were orchestrating moves in the midfield with Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi threatenting at the striking position.

In the second half, Celtic came out eager to pose more of a threat with Aiden McGeady prominent down the right flanks. However, Celtic were exposed at the back, and Milan’s Inzaghi almost capitalised with a flashing shot from Massimo Oddo’s cross. In the 55th minute, AC Milan were dealt a painful blow when Clarence Seedorf got injured and had to be replaced by Yoann Gourcuff.

In the 62nd minute, Celtic was able to break the deadlock when Paul Hartley’s corner cross threatened inside the box. Celtic’s captain Stephen McManus was open at the far post to chase after the ball while Milan keeper Nelson Dida had come off his line. Milan’s Yoann Gourcuff tried to stop the ball from reaching McManus, but instead tapped the ball in the net to credit him with an own goal and a 1-0 advantage for Celtic.
Milan almost equlaised with Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick deflecting off the wall, but Celtic keeper Artur Boruc pushed it over the crossbar. Milan’s equaliser came soon enough. Celtic’s Lee Naylor was adjudged to have pulled down Massimo Ambrosini inside the penalty area on the 68th minute, and Kaká coolly converted the spot-kick.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan threw on Shunsuke Nakamura and Chris Killen for the closing stages to try and give Celtic some offensive power. The match seemed to be headed for a draw, but on the 90th minute Celtic’s Gary Caldwell was able to threaten the Milan goal. Milan goalkeeper Nelson Dida was able to react to stop the shot, but wasn’t able to hold on to the ball which landed in front of the Milan goal. Celtic’s Australian forward Scott McDonald was able to advance to the ball and slot it in with Dida still on the ground. Celtic FC fans at the Ibrox Stadium went delerious as Celtic collected the 3 points defeating UEFA Champions League title holders AC Milan 2-1.

Incidentally, a Celtic FC ran across the pitch following the McDonald goal, and slightly “slapped” goalkeeper Nelson Dida on the face. A frustrated and irate Dida thought about going after the fan, but instead flopped down to the ground and pretendedto be knocked out and in pain. Dida was brought out on a stretcher. Whatever.

Celtic’s win ties them with AC Milan in the second place ranking of Group D with 3 points each. Group D’s leaders are Ukraninan Premier League’s runner-up Shaktar Donetsk, whose 1-0 victory over Portugese Superliga club SL Benfica gives them 6 points. SL Benfica still don’t have any points after two matchdays in the group stages of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League.

Scottish Premier League champions Celtic FC will have to travel to Lisbon, Portugal for their next UEFA Champions League match on October 24 against SL Benfica.

Italian Serie A club and UEFA Champions League title hodlers AC Milan will have the home court advantage at the San Siro Stadium when they host Group D leaders Shaktar Donetsk.

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In the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League, AC Milan went through that entire ladder until they were the only ones remaining on the top step. For this season, AC Milan have to go through the entire ordeal again beginning with the Group stages. In the 2007-2008 season of the UEFA Champions League, AC Milan have been grouped in Group D along with Ukranian football club FC Shaktar Donetsk, Scottish Premier League title holders Celtic FC and Portugese club Benfica. Only the top 2 of Group D will advance to the elimination round of 16.

AC Milan recently hosted Benfica at the San Siro in Milan, Italy, and played an awesome match that gave them a 2-1 victory over the Portugese side. It only took UEFA Champions League title holders AC Milan 9 minutes to get into the score when Kaka was brought down 20 meters from the goal, awarding AC Milan with a free kick. Andrea Pirlo had no problem curling the free-kick into the top corner past Benfica keeper Quim to give AC Milan a 1-0 advantage.

The AC Milan side looked to be in total control of the match, and had a lot more opportunities to extend their lead with attempts from Massimo Ambrosini and Filippo Inzaghi keeping Benfica goalkeeper Quim on his toes. Benfica also looked to equalise and had opportunities from Rui Costa and Oscar Cardozo. Cardozo had the best effort when he was unmarked just a few feet from the AC Milan goal and pouncing a header from a beautiful cross by Angel Di Maria. Unfortunately, Cordozo hit the post.

However, the second goal of the match fell to AC Milan. Andrea Pirlo crossed from the right side to the far post and found Filippo Inzaghi 10 meters from the goal, who managed smash a volley into the right corner to give AC Milan a 2-0 advantage.

Benfica were able to score a consolation goal in injury time of the second half when Konstantinos Katsouranis played a low cross from the left side of the penalty area, and substitute Nuno Gomes slid into the AC Milan goal along with the ball. The final whistle was blown right after, and it was too late for Benfica who lose to AC Milan 2-1. AC Milan now have 3 points to lead group D along with Shaktar Donetsk who beat Celtic FC 2-0 on their home pitch in the Lokomotyv Stadium in Donetsk, Ukraine.

AC Milan will look to extend their lead in Group D of the UEFA Champions League when they visit the Celtic Park in Scotland, home of Celtic F.C. Matchday 2 of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League is on October 2-3, 2007.

To bet on AC Milan vs. Celtic F.C. and other UEFA Champions League matches, click here.

With a berth in the group stage guaranteed, Stuttgart are now concentrating on maintaining their two-point advantage over FC Schalke 04 and clinching a first Bundesliga crown since 1992. Ahead of Saturday’s visit of FC Energie Cottbus, Stuttgart coach Armin Veh said:

“This is a normal week, we will do everything as we have in the past.” Three points against DSC Arminia Bielefeld might not be enough to win Schalke the title, but a loss would cost them the runners-up place – and send them into UEFA Champions League qualifying – if Werder Bremen win at VfL Wolfsburg.

Porto are a point in front of Sporting Clube de Portugal and two ahead of SL Benfica, as they compete for the title on Sunday and two automatic spots in the group stage. Coach Jesualdo Ferreira is confident his Porto team can do the necessary at home against relegation-threatened CD Das Aves.

“We would have preferred to wrap the title before the final round but we will be champions at our stadium,” he said. Second in France, Olympique de Marseille are the only other side who could confirm a group-stage place this weekend, if they win at AS Saint-Etienne on Saturday and RC Lens and FC Girondins de Bordeaux both lose.

Andorra, San Marino and Montenegro feature in the access list for the first time following a decision by the UEFA Executive Committee. The access list is based on performances over the previous five campaigns, and determines the number of spots that each national asssociation will have in the following season’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup.

The 2007/08 entrants for both tournaments will not be confirmed until after the 2006/07 domestic leagues conclude in mid-June.

With some sections set to go to the wire on Matchday 6, the penultimate batch of fixtures could prove the most dramatic.

Chelsea FC will win the group with just a draw at Werder Bremen, regardless of results elsewhere. But should Bremen better the 2-0 loss they suffered at Stamford Bridge on Matchday 1, they would take pole position in the section.

An FC Barcelona victory at PFC Levski Sofia would guarantee their qualification chances going into the final round, but a draw or a defeat for the holders combined with a Bremen win would end their hopes.

Lyon and Madrid will contest top spot when they meet in Spain. Lyon have the advantage following their 2-0 Matchday 1 success and the Merengues need to win by a three-goal margin to usurp them going into the final day. A draw would confirm Lyon as section winners.

While victory in Glasgow will ensure Manchester United FC top spot, a draw would also be enough to take the English club through, while Celtic FC can qualify if they win and the SL Benfica-FC Copenhagen fixture ends all square.

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