Red Bull Salzburg - Atletic Bilbao
Backing the home win. Have A Bilbao played much lately? I watched them last Thursday, I watched them in an early Sunday kick off and now they are off to Austria. Definitely missing for A Bilbao will be Ekiza and D Lopez and Llorente, Amorebieta, J Martinez and Gabilondo are all injury concerns. A Bilbao will play against Barcelona next and I can see coach Bielsa resting Llorente and a couple of others tomorrow.
Salzburg were incensed two weeks ago. They were 2-0 up away to Bilbao and they have the firm opinion that the referee helped the home side to a point. Salzburg are unbeaten in their last fifteen home games and they will welcome back J Jantscher from his suspension for this game. The odds are great and I have to take the chance with the home win.
Vaslui - Sporting Lisbon
One of the leading Europa League strikers, the Vaslui front man Wesley (3 goals so far), will be suspended for this match. Vaslui also have a lengthy injury list.
Sporting have already qualified for the next round and I feared that they would leave for Romania with mostly second choices. I just checked their 19 man squad and I only missed Elias and Insua. I expect Sporting to prolong their winning sequence.
AEK Athens - Lokomotive Moscow
On zero points in this group it looks like this fixture will be slightly neglected by the home side. They have a big league game in a few days, away to Panathinaikos and their coach has decided to rest some of his starters in their last league game. New AEK player Vargas, well known profiles like Dellas, Kafes and Liberopoulos will not play tomorrow.
Lokomotive suffered their first league loss under their new coach at the weekend. I only missed Caicedo in their squad and I guess that he will be missing tomorrow as well. Obinna, Sychev, they still have some decent forwards. All about motivation and that is why I will back the away win.
Atl. Madrid - Udinese
Kazan - Tottenham
Rubin have enjoyed mixed fortunes on the domestic front. Impressive away win against Dynamo Moscow, but then only a draw with Rostov, both games taking place after the first match vs. Tottenham. Backing Rubin.
Austria Wien - AZ Alkmaar
The Dutch league leaders will be without their suspended central defender N Moisander. B Holmann has joined the travelling party, but I doubt that he will play. No, J Altidore will most like play upfront.
Austria drew 2-2 in Alkmaar, still leading the match 2-0 with fifteen minutes to go. With R Linz, Jun and Barazite going forward you can trust the Austrians to find the net. I expect a cracking game, goals will be scored and the AZ superior class should be decisive in the end.
At least three goals, probably more. Why not 2-3!
Birmingham - Club Brugge
Losing four games on the trot became too much for the Brugge board and their coach was sacked. One of their losses was at home to Birmingham and at the weekend C Brugge lost to Genk 4-5, leading 4-2 with some twenty minutes to go. Basically Brugge have been stronger than Genk this season, same Genk that drew with Chelsea last night. Brugge will be without two players, Blondel and Hogli, that both played in the first match vs. Birmingham. Captain C Hoefkens is still missing.
The Birmingham squad has been trimmed down this season and coach Houghton has to rely on the same group of players both on the domestic and the international front. Signs of fatigue here and there and maybe C Brugge will have their revenge tomorrow.
FC Copenhagen - Hannover
Plenty of open fixtures in this round and this one is no exception. Copenhagen looked quite harmless for most of the game in Hannover, but their efficiency was 100% on the day and they reached a 2-2 draw. Squad wise they look quite OK ahead of this match, even M Vingaard is back in their squad.
Pinto, the Hannover midfielder, will be available for this match. No doubt that Hannover have the superior superiority. Just recently they defeated Bayern Munich, but they also lost to Borussia in their last league game. You never really know, but as I said, nothing wrong with their capacity. Up to 10000 Hannover supporters will make the journey to Copenhagen. My choice will be the away win.
Maccabi Tel Aviv - Stoke
Tempting odds on the home win. Although Stoke won the match against Maccabi comfortably I would have the home side as favourites in this match. They are strong at home and they pushed Dinamo Kiev all the way in their latest home game in this group (1-1).
At the same time these last weeks have been tough for Stoke. They have played twice a week both in the different cups and in the league. Their last two games, both home games, vs. Liverpool and Newcastle, have been lost and their next league game at Bolton is something of a key fixture for Stoke. Both their defenders R Shawcross and M Wilson limped off against Newcastle and I cannot imagine that they will play tomorrow.
Maccabi rested players at the weekend, but missing tomorrow will be their suspended defender Ziw. A stronger Maccabi tomorrow and home win will be my call.
Celtic - Rennes
Surprising, but deserved 1-1 draw in Rennes two weeks ago. I cannot really figure it out. Were Rennes that bad or what? I mean this Celtic side has not impressed at all this season and they are not helped by injuries to many important players. Their latest casualty is G Loovens and he is a doubt for this match.
It seems like Rennes mean business. They have travelled with a big squad including all their best players, even Apam is included in their squad. Only Dalmat has stayed put in Rennes. Say what you want, but 3.31 is a hell of a price on the away win. They are facing Celtic, for God�s sake. Away win.
