Sevilla - CSKA Moscow
Football: Champions League. 1/8 finals, 2nd leg.
Tuesday, 16th March 2010. Kickoff 20:45

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Sevilla

They say Del Nido has already included the income from Sevilla's progression to Champions' League quarter-final in club's budget. Anyway there is one little matter left to settle before that happens - keep CSKA away from winning or clinching a high-scoring draw.

Sevilla is far from convincing lately in La Liga. 2-3 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabeu was then followed up by a 1-1 draw against Deportivo at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Stakes on Champions League campaign are very high for Manolo Jimenez and the young manager is certainly aware of the pressure.

Alvaro Negredo the scorer of Sevilla's lone goal in Moscow is out of the clash and should be replaced by Luis Fabiano.

Expected formation and line up :
Sevilla (4-2-3-1)
Palop
Stankevicius, Escude, Fazio, F.Navarro
Romaric, Zokora
Jesus Navas, Perotti, Adriano
Kanoute

Doubtful
str. A. Negredo

CSKA Moscow

CSKA only just squeezed a late goal in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 victory against Amkar on the opening day of the Russian Premier League season. Right back Kirill Nababkin was not on the plane to Sevilla after twisting a foot in a bizarre ice-accident. Defensive midfielder Evgeniy Aldonin could be back to action after sitting out last 2 fixtures with a minor injury.

Leonid Slutsky virtually has all players available. Absence of Kirill Nababkin is not a big issue, since the newcomer has not become an integral part of the starting 11. The team should very much resemble the one, which we saw at the Luzhniki stadium 3 weeks ago. The only significant boost is the comeback of Alan Dzagoev. Impressive Keisuke Honda shall be used in the center of the pitch right below the attacking quartet.

CSKA was poor tactically in Moscow and did not offer anything to their opponents. Whenever the Russian side managed to turn the tempo on and put one or two passes together – it was enough to close Sevilla in its’ own half. It will all be the other way around in Spain. Actually playing on the counter attacks can give CSKA an alternative that they didn’t have in Moscow. The question is – will Sevilla go forward on the count they don’t need to score, unlike the Russians.

Expected formation and line up :
CSKA Moscow (4-2-3-1)
Akinfeev
A.Berezutsky, Ignashevich, V. Berezutsky, Schennikov
Semberas, Honda
Krasic, Dzagoev, Gonzalez
Necid

Unavailable
def. K.Nababkin

Betting advice

A very hard match to call indeed. However the bookmaker lines are embarassing to say the least. I can’t find reasonable explanation to why such a huge advantage is given to the hosts.

Even Deportivo had more respect at the week-end. From the point of value – CSKA Moscow is definitely worth the shot. Taking hosts with a -1 handicap at this stage of the competition is madness.

The Statistics :

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take CSKA Moscow (+1) @ 1.87 with Bet365