Today’s featured game is at the Stade Gerland and includes Olympique Lyonnais and Liverpool. This ground with strange pottery-type seats will bear witness to one of the most important UEFA Champions League clashes this week as two good sides that are out-of-form battle for a place in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League. Under-pressure manager Rafa Benitez must win here or face an early exit from the UEFA Champions League, something that would spell disaster for the five-times champions as their chances of winning the English Premier League are all but gone already. Liverpool must win this game but are without talismanic midfielder Steven Gerrard, who has not travelled with the squad, and also have Fernando Torres starting with the knowledge that he’s not fit. If that doesn’t sound like a desperate manager then I don’t know what does. I’d be more nervous about backing a leaky Olympique Lyonnais in this game had they not beaten local rivals Saint-Etienne at weekend, a result that gives them much-needed momentum entering this game. Ultimately, I think Olympique Lyonnais have more cohesion, momentum, and quality in their squad overall than Liverpool and I think they’re more than capable of winning this game at 11/8, although the French side will have to keep an eye on crafty playmaker Yossi Benayoun, who has been Liverpool’s best player so far this season.

Wednesday’s Picks

My tips:

As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:

Olympique Lyonnais vs Liverpool - home win at 11/8 – see introduction for full details.

Dynamo Kiev vs Internazionale – home win at 23/10. A feisty performance in Milan two weeks ago saw Dynamo Kiev deservedly claim a 2-2 draw with the Italian champions after a highly impressive display. Valery Gazzaev’s side are looking well-organised and extremely talented, arguably boasting the best squad they’ve had since the days of Shevchenko in the late 90′s, which is very ironic as their talismanic striker is back in their ranks. The Ukrainian side are even harder to face in their homeland and will make life very difficult for Mourinho’s Internazionale. The visitors haven’t won a UEFA Champions League game for a long time now and it’s starting to ebb at their morale, something that was visible against Dynamo Kiev two weeks ago. Italian football is already on a descent when in comparison to the majority of European football and Ukrianian football is going in the opposite direction. Internazionale won’t be an easy side to beat but both sides need to win this game and I think the hosts have a better chance of winning this game, particularly with the pacey Milevskiy on the counter-attack. It’s dangerous to disregard a side like Internazionale, however, so perhaps consider a draw no bet option but the last result I can see here is an away win.

Unirea Urziceni vs Rangers - home win at evens. I can’t offer much more reasoning for this game other than that the Romanians won 4-1 in Glasgow two weeks ago without breaking sweat. It amuses me to see Scots valiantly attempting to defend the “quality” of their league’s football but the fact of the matter is that even the Romanian Liga has better quality football these days, which was proven two weeks ago. Unirea Urziceni are a good side in Romania, possibly not worthy of the title of champions, but they’re still a talented and well-organised unit. A weekend victory against Universitatea Craiova will have got their momentum flowing again so I fancy them to extend it here and enhance their chances of qualification for the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League. Scottish football has never been at a lower point and I honestly don’t believe that Rangers have enough to match their Romanian hosts today. For me, the home win at evens boasts considerable value tonight.

As ever, if there are any questions/explanations required then feel free to post a comment! For the complete picks listing, see below!

UEFA Champions League:

Rubin Kazan vs Barcelona (8) 1-2
Fiorentina vs Debreceni VSC (9) 3-1
Olympique Lyonnais vs Liverpool (7) 2-1
Dynamo Kiev vs Internazionale (6) 2-1
Unirea Urziceni vs Rangers (7) 2-0
Sevilla CF vs VFB Stuttgart (9) -1.75 handicap
Arsenal vs AZ Alkmaar (9) -1.75 handicap
Standard de Liege vs Olympiakos Piraeus (7) 1-1

Copa Nissan Sudamericana:

San Lorenzo de Almagro vs River Plate Montevideo (8) 2-0
Botafogo vs Cerro Porteno (7) under 2.5 goals

Australian A-League:

Wellington Phoenix vs Newcastle Jets (6) 1-1

Brazilian Serie A:

Gremio vs Sao Paulo (6) 2-1, draw no bet

English Premier League:

West Ham United vs Aston Villa (7) 1-1

Hungarian Soproni Liga:

Ferencvaros vs Gyori ETO FC (5) 1-1

Russian Division 1:

NoSta Novotroitsk vs Shinnik Yaroslavl’ (5) draw no bet
Cherno Novorosisk vs FK Nizhyni Novgorod (4) draw no bet
FK Krasnodor vs Alaniya Vladikavkaz (6)
Volgar Gazprom Astrakhan vs Salyut Belgorod (6)
Anzhi Makhachkala vs Metallurg Lipetsk (8)
KamAZ Nab Chelny vs Energiya Khabarovsk (7)
Volga Nizhny Novgorod vs Luch-Energiya Vladivostok (6)
FK Chita vs Sibir Novosibirsk (5) draw no bet
Vityaz Podolsk vs Baltika Kaliningrad (6)

Swedish Superettan Relegation Play-Off:

Trollhattan vs Skovde AIK (7)

Enjoy your free betting tips!