Red Devils eye cup glory

Red Devils eye cup glory

Manchester United are a banker bet when they host Nottingham Forest tomorrow in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final, a match included in the midweek TAB Soccer 13 pool which is expected to reach R8-milllion.

By Mark Gleeson

Manchester United and Newcastle United look set for the League Cup final at Wembley on 26 February, taking leads into their respective semi-final second leg ties at home tonight and tomorrow.

It was expected to be a little tougher than it has turned out to be, but Newcastle do have a one-goal advantage over Southampton while Man Utd scored three away at Nottingham Forest last week to make tomorrow’s return at Old Trafford a banker bet.

Elsewhere in Europe there are some intriguing cup ties, not least tonight’s clash between two in-form teams, Inter Milan and Atalanta, in the quarter-final of the Coppa Italia.

Inter won the competition last season while Atalanta have been runners-up in two of the past four finals, so there will be much emphasis on success tonight. Both clubs won in the league at the weekend and sit in the top four of the Serie A standings, but with Napoli runaway leaders, the cup is Inter and Atalanta’s best chance for silverware this season.

The Germans are at the round of 16 in their cup competition and have scheduled four ties this week and four next. Union Berlin are in hot form in the Bundesliga and likely to replicate that tonight as they host VfL Wolfsburg.

Both LaLiga frontrunners Barcelona and Real Madrid have catch-up league games in midweek with a tricky trip for leaders Barca at Real Betis tomorrow, but Real Madrid are expected to win at home on Thursday against Valencia.

The weekend reverts back to league action and, at home, Maritzburg United kick off the DStv Premiership round of fixtures on Friday at home to AmaZulu. The Harry Gwala Stadium has a special Friday night atmosphere and Maritzburg are tough to beat there.

The big match is on Saturday when Mamelodi Sundowns travel to Soweto to take on hosts Orlando Pirates, who handed them a crushing 3-0 hiding in Pretoria in the MTN8 semi-final back in October.

It was a result that led to a shake-up in the Sundowns’ coaching hierarchy with Manqoba Mnqithi demoted down the ranks and Rhulani Mokwena installed as sole head coach. Since then, Sundowns have won 12 games in a row and look unstoppable.

Sunday’s win for Kaizer Chiefs over Royal AM has lifted the mood in their camp but they have a tricky assignment this Sunday away at Mbombela Stadium against TS Galaxy, one of their bogey teams.