Chelsea have a mountain to climb

Chelsea have a mountain to climb

TAB soccer pools just keep on producing big payouts for small bets, like the online punter who won R76,000 playing a R2 Soccer 13 this past weekend, and with the Champions League action taking centre stage, midweek pools are expected to reach into the millions yet again.

By Mark Gleeson

Decisive first-leg wins for Inter Milan and Manchester City mean they can now both plan ahead for the Champions League semi-finals. The other two quarter-final, second leg ties will, however, be keenly contested tonight.

Chelsea must put aside their horrid form as they try to come back from a 0-2 loss at Real Madrid and turn around the tie at Stamford Bridge tonight, while the all-Italian clash between Milan and Napoli is delicately poised at 1-0 in favour of Milan.

It is the last chance for Chelsea to salvage something from a tumultuous season, which has seen both a change of owner and two managers fired.

The experiment of bringing in Frank Lampard as caretaker looks to have backfired, with three successive losses since his arrival. His managerial record, besides his time at Derby County, is awful and the Blues would have been much better served appointing Luis Enrique right away.

Not much is expected when they host the holders tonight but there is always a flicker of hope, especially given Chelsea’s Champions League pedigree.

Milan lead Napoli 1-0 in their all-Italian clash and were 4-0 away winners in Naples just weeks ago in the league. Napoli have been the dominant force in Serie A this season with a runaway lead and are well on course for their first league title in decades but are stumbling a little through the final stages. They were held to a draw at the weekend by relegation-threatened Verona.

The winner of the tie will likely take on Inter, again keeping it in the ‘famiglia’.

Inter won 2-0 away at Benfica last week and are expected to wrap up an aggregate victory when they host the second leg tomorrow.

Manchester City go to Bayern Munich with a 3-0 advantage, which should be enough although Bayern will make a game of it and look for a consolation second leg triumph.

In the Europa League on Thursday, Manchester United are in a precarious position after two late own goals cost them victory at Old Trafford last week. Their first leg against Sevilla ended 2-2 but the Red Devils still have the ammunition to come away from Spain with a second leg success.

Jose Mourinho’s Roma are a goal down against Dutch league leaders Feyenoord but have home advantage. Juventus go away to Sporting Lisbon, conquerors of Arsenal in the previous round, with a slender 1-goal lead.