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| Lyon look decent punting material at 7/5 to see off AC Milan in their Champions League quarter-final first leg clash at the Stade Gerland tonight. OL are arguably the form team in the Champions League this term (unbeaten in eight, shipping just four goals in the process). They are an experienced, ball-playing side who are difficult to break down and looked superb in crushing PSV Eindhoven a round ago. The mercurial Juninho misses out (suspended) and while he's a big loss to the French outfit, it's Milan who have bigger problems injury-wise. The Rossoneri are without defensive stalwarts Jaap Stam, Paulo Maldini and Cafu, and so it's tough to see how they are going to keep Lyon out. Former Arsenal hitman Sylvain Wiltord is in rude health in front of goal presently, and odds of 9/4 on him scoring in the match looks plenty generous. Les Gones have never progressed past the quarter-finals in this competition, and with Milan missing three first choice defenders they probably know they must take their chance in this leg. Andriy Shevchenko and Alberto Gilardino, 6/1 and 15/2 respectively to score first, carry Milan's hopes in attack but the Italian outfit have cultivated their impressive reputation on keeping it tight defensively. With the aforementioned trio missing, they could struggle and in truth a 1-0 defeat wouldn't be the end of the world for Carlos Ancelotti's troops. Elsewhere Milan's City rivals Inter are rightful odds-on jolly's to gain the upper hand in their quarter-final against Villarreal. The Amarillos are without four key players for the encounter in Alessio Tacchinardi, Joseco, Rodolfo Arruabarrena and Josemi. They have saved their best stuff for Europe this season (as Rangers and Manchester United fans will testify), and any side who can call on the lavish skills of Juan Riquelme always has a chance. I fancy Inter to edge it, but am not unduly turned on by the 4/7 quotes about a home win, especially after their feeble display against Parma at the weekend. A better route to profit could be to have a dabble on Julio Cruz to score first at 5/1. He has been by far and away Inter's most consistent performer this season (10 league and four Champions League goals already), and given the fact that Adriano may not feature he will almost certainly start for the Nerazzurri | ||
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