|
BILLY BUNTER |
Weblog: The football punter
Apoel have a Trickovski or two up their sleeve
Usually it's impossible to wrestle the remote control off me when Barcelona are on TV but tonight I'll probably give their game a miss.
I'll leave the 1-1000 about Barca qualifying against Bayer Leverkusen to the big hitters so it's good news for Mrs Bunter and the kids – we're watching Apoel Nicosia v Lyon instead tonight!
What odds would you have got at the start of the seasonabout a Cypriot team going further than any English team in the Champions League? And why didn't I see it coming?
Admittedly, Apoel have got to come from a goal down to get past Lyon and Chelsea are still in with a slight chance against Napoli but soon we're all going to be hailing the Cypriot league as the best in the world.
From a punting perspective, Apoel have been performing miracles all season in the Champions League and I can see them sneaking another win. They've beaten Zenit St Petersburg and Porto at home while Lyon scored just two goals in their first five group games (admittedly, they went on to score seven at whipping boys Dynamo Zagreb in their final match but I'm willing to ignore that performance.)
Apoel's defence is rock-solid and I reckon they could nick a goal through Brazilian star Ailton or the brilliantly named Ivan Trickovski to take it to extra-time. It may well be a late night for the little Bunters...
