Can Arsenal beat Barcelona to lift European Cup?
With Henry and Ronaldinho on the same pitch, it promises to be an excellent Champions League final this week. If you're looking for a slightly different bet, check out the football markets at Sporting Index
Dave Harris
16-May-2006
With Henry and Ronaldinho on the same pitch, it promises to be an excellent Champions League final this week. If you're looking for a slightly different bet, check out the football markets at Sporting Index.
We've taken a look at some of their prices (see preview below) -
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Like in most of the knock-out stages, Arsenal go in to the final as underdogs. Sporting Index predict that Barcelona will win by a margin of 0.5 to 0.7 goals, and there will be a total of 2.2 to 2.4 scored in the match. Although these are two attacking teams, the match is likely to start off relatively slow and cagey - let's hope for an early goal to make it interesting.
Both teams are able to field pretty much their first eleven. Arsenal are likely to stick with Henry up front on his own, with Reyes, Ljungberg and Hleb pushing forward to support. Barca will be pleased to see Xavi return to the squad after a long lay-off, another world-class member of their midfield.
There is likely to be plenty of interest in Sporting's "Player Goal Minutes" markets, which is a prediction of the total number of goal scoring minutes by a player. Eto'o is priced up at 23 to 26 minutes, Ronaldinho at 20 to 23, and Henry at 17 to 20 minutes.
Sporting seem to expect a clean game, with between three and four yellow cards on their "Bookings" market. Norwegian ref Terje Hauge does seem to be more lenient than some of the others. Saying that, he did send Del Horno off when Barcelona beat Chelsea in February, so he's not shy about reaching in to his pocket.
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