The last three spots in the second round of the Soccer Betting Champions League are on the line this week with the final round of group matches. 13 teams have already qualified for the next round and three teams will join them. One team that was expected to get in must still qualify as Chelsea hosts CFR Cluj. Chelsea is battling with AS Roma and Bordeaux for one of the two spots in Group A.

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Chelsea should not have any trouble with CFR Cluj but the Blues are not playing well of late, losing at home for the first time in four years in the Premier League. “I think teams have come and put 10 players behind the ball and made it very difficult,” Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins said. “At times we haven’t worked hard enough to pry it open but give credit to teams as well, they’ve worked out a plan to play against us and it’s up to us to go against that and we’ll get it back on track.” The Blues should get a win which would mean AS Roma would only need a draw at home against Bordeaux while the road team would need the win to advance. Roma is playing well of late, having won four straight in Serie A. Jeremy Menez scored on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Chievo Verona. “He has a lot of skill and quality, and instincts of a great player,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “I knew he had talent, but I didn’t think he’d be this decisive this quickly.”

Inter Milan is at the top of Group B with the other spot up in the air. Panathinaikos needs only a draw at home against Anorthosis to advance. “Not many clubs have the opportunity to qualify for the last 16 of the Soccer Betting Champions League and we shouldn’t miss it,” coach Henk Pen Cate said, “Qualification is in our hands.”

Inter Milan and Juventus are tied at the top of the Soccer Betting Serie A standings after they both picked up wins over the weekend. Inter Milan won 3-1 at Torino as Maicon and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored goals. “Inter was the stronger side today because it scored three goals and could have scored more,” coach Jose Mourinho said. “They scored a goal and were motivated at the end but our goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who was on vacation for 75 minutes, made some big saves, and that’s what president Massimo Moratti pays him for.” Juventus got a goal from Amauri as they defeated Cagliari 1-0. “Right now it’s us and Juve, but we’ll understand the standings better once the December break comes,” Mourinho said. “Milan (AC) will bounce back and so will Roma.” Inter and Juventus have seven points each at the top of Serie A followed by Lazio, Palermo, Catania and Atalanta with six points.

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Vincenzo Iaquinta set up Amauri’s goal for Juventus and the team overcame the loss of starting goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon who left at the half. His replacement, Alex Manninger, made a big save in the 90th minute on Alessandro Matri to save the win. “There could have been more goals for us if we had figured out how to take advantage of our chances, and for them with Matri, who nearly tied it,” Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri said. Goalkeeper Buffon said his injury was not bad. “I don’t think it’s anything serious,” he said.

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: Inter Milan and Juventus Lead Serie A

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has said his team will employ an attacking style when the team plays Panathinaikos on Tuesday in the group stage of the Soccer Betting Champions League. “My teams are always attacking teams,” Mourinho said, “Before I came to Italian football I told myself that no matter how long I stay I will never change my ideas as a coach. This is my idea about football. I will never field nine or 10 players in front of the goalkeeper just to get a result.”

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Mourinho left Chelsea a year ago for Milan but doesn’t feel he has to win the Champions League this season. “Mr Moratti (Inter president) has never told me to win the Champions League and I don’t feel under pressure to do so. We have our goals for this season and we have to play at a high level.” Morinho said, “I don’t accept being evaluated on being a coach on results only, although my teams do tend to win.” He is also not overconfident even though Milan is a favorite against Panathinaikos.”I won’t be modest and say we are not favorites, we are. We want to win the competition,” he said. “But I am a realist. I am not a crazy person. I have had 50 matches in this…

Soccer News: Mourinho Leads Inter Milan in Champions League

Jose Mourinho was named manager at Inter Milan on Monday, replacing Roberto Mancini who was fired last week.

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Jose Mourinho has been without a job since leaving Chelsea last September. Inter Milan released a statement about the hiring saying, “Thanking Roberto Mancini and his staff for the successes obtained in four seasons in charge of the team,” Inter said, “All of FC Internazionale welcomes Jose Mourinho and his coaches and wishes them the best of luck in their new jobs.”

“He can win the Soccer Betting Champions League with this team and I would like to be a part of it,” said winger Luis Figo. Mancini was fired last week even though Inter won their third straight league title.

Read more on Inter Milan Soccer News: Inter Milan Hires Jose Mourinho

Roberto Mancini said on Tuesday that he will resign as Inter Milan’s coach after the season is over. He has been extremely successful at Inter but after his team lost in the Soccer Betting Champions League against Liverpool he made the announcement. “The next two and a half months will be my last as the manager of the team,” Mancini said, “This is a decision that I had already taken and has nothing to do with the defeat to Liverpool.”

Inter Milan leads Serie A by six points with 11 matches left. Inter has won the last two Italian league titles. Mancini became Inter’s manager in 2004 and led the team to the Italian Cup title in his first season at the helm. Many of the players were surprised by the announcement. “We have just been eliminated form the Champions League and it’s a big delusion for everybody,” Inter striker Julio Cruz said. Inter president Massimo Moratti did not have any comment.

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Tuesday’s match against Liverpool was another disappointing one for Inter as they had to play with 10 men for the last 40 minutes after Nicolas Burdisso was sent off. Fernando Torres scored a second-half goal and Liverpool won 1-0 and 3-0 on aggregate to advance. Inter also had to play the first leg with only 10 men for most of the match after Marco Materazzi was sent off.

Read more on Football News: Inter Milan’s Mancini to Resign

Inter Milan faces the tough task of coming back from two goals down when they host Liverpool in the second leg of a Soccer Betting Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday.

Liverpool won the first leg 2-0 last week as Dirk Kuyt and captain Steven Gerrard scored. Inter had to play with only 10 men for much of the match when Marco Materazzi was sent off. They will have to play without Materazzi on Tuesday in addition to injured Ivan Cordoba and Walter Samuel. Inter may be getting defender Christian Chivu back on Tuesday though. “I still have pain, but the threshold than I can take has moved considerably higher,” Chivu said. “I will put myself at the disposition of the coach.”

Inter is a half goal favorite with a total of 2.5 under -140 at SBG Global.
The three-way line has Inter -115, Liverpool +270 and the draw at +200.

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Liverpool is trying to make it four English teams in the quarterfinals as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are already in.

Read more on Football Betting Preview: Liverpool vs Inter Milan in Champions League

Premier League teams are doing quite well in the Soccer Betting Champions League as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have all moved into the quarterfinals. There could be a fourth Premier League team that makes the final eight as Liverpool holds a nice lead against Inter Milan heading into their second leg game next week. “What will be, will be,” Chelsea’s Frank Lampard said. “If all four of us go through – and Liverpool are in a good position – there will be a great chance of an all-English match. It’s obviously great for England if we’re all in there but if we draw one we will have to deal with it.”

Wednesday’s Champions League games saw Chelsea defeating Olympiakos 3-0 while AS Roma eliminated Real Madrid 2-1 and Schalke beat FC Porto 4-1 on penalties after the teams went into extra time with the aggregate score tied at 1-1. The loss by Real Madrid was a surprise as the Spanish champs were knocked out for the fourth straight season. Madrid had lost the first leg game 2-1 and needed a victory but couldn’t get it as Roma won 2-1 again. Substitute Mirko Vucinic headed in the game winner in injury time to give Roma the 4-2 aggregate win. “Vucinic’s entrance changed the game,” Roma coach Luciano Spaletti said. “All of the subs who came in maintained the team’s equilibrium and made important contributions. We controlled well and had better intentions about taking this game. And we responded to the challenge.”

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Frank Lampard was involved in all three goals as Chelsea routed Olympiakos 3-0. He scored one and assisted on Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou’s goals. Ballack opened the scoring in the 6th minute and then assisted on Lampard’s goal in the 25th minute. Kalou added the third goal in the 48th minute.

Read more on Soccer News: Manchester United, Arsenal, & Chelsea Advance in Champions League

AS Roma blew their chance to defeat Inter Milan giving up a goal in the 88th minute and it may have ended any chance they had at catching Inter in the Soccer Betting Serie A standings. Inter holds a nine-point lead on Roma with 13 rounds remaining, and the teams do not meet again this season. “It’s a draw that’s worth as much as a victory, for the way it came about,” Inter coach Roberto Mancini said.

Javier Zanetti scored in the 88th-minute to keep Inter undefeated this season.
“We’ve got a pretty good lead but we’ve got to keep going,” Zanetti said. “We still need to improve our form, because we’re not at our best.” Roma had taken the lead on a goal from Francesco Totti in the 38th minute. Inter had just missed earlier when Hernan Crespo hit one off the post. Inter was down to 10 men after losing Maxwell but Roma defender Philippe Mexes picked up his second yellow card that evened things up. Inter nearly scored in the 87th minute but Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni made the save but he couldn’t stop Zanetti a minute later.

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“We certainly could have closed out the match before, because we created a lot of chances,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “But we needed to be careful because they had three strikers on and we couldn’t get out of balance.” Inter was without their two top strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Julio Ricardo Cruz due to injury.

Read more on Football Betting Results: Inter Milan and AS Roma play to 1-1 Draw

Champions League Round of 16 action gets underway on Tuesday as Liverpool hosts Inter Milan. It is a tough turnaround for Liverpool as they are coming off a shocking loss to lower-league club Barnsley in the FA Cup. Although Liverpool is at home they face the best team in the Italian League in the first leg on Tuesday. Inter Milan will present a severe test for a Liverpool team that is now playing to save their season and probably the job of manager Rafa Benitez.

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It was expected that Liverpool would make a run at the Premier League title this season but they are already out of contention sitting 19 points back of Arsenal. Liverpool has won nothing this season and now may not even qualify for the Champions League next season. Benitez is under fire after the shocking loss to Barnsley. He rested Pepe Reina, Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano. Liverpool is owned by American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. who are not happy with the job Benitez has done. The Champions League is the last chance for Liverpool to save the season.

Read more one Champions League Round of 16

English Premier club Liverpool will be hosting Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan at Anfield Park for the first leg of the Round of 16 knock-out phase in the UEFA Champions League tournament.

Liverpool hasn’t had much success lately in the English Premier League and are just 6th in the English Premier League standings while Inter Milan are on a roll as leaders in the Italian Serie A.

Liverpool’s head coach Rafa Benitez has been under scrutiny and his job security is under question. However, Benitez is looking to do well in the UEFA Champions League, and win back the Champions League title they won back in 2005. Rafa Benitez will be looking to key Liverpool players like Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Andriy Voronin, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch to take them through to the quartefinals of the UEFA Champions League should they defeat Inter Milan.

Inter Milan’s head coach Roberto Mancini will look to defeat Liverpool with his string of key players that include Hernan Crespo, Esteban Cambiasso, Julio Cruz, Luis Figo, Christian Chivu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Read more on UEFA Champions League Betting Preview: Liverpool vs. Inter Milan