Champions League
2007-12-12 - Glasgow Rangers vs Lyon
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Group stage
12 December 2007 20:45 (CET)
Ibrox - Glasgow
Glasgow Rangers
Anyone who thought Rangers would be in the position of only needing a draw to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League in a group containing Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart, please raise your hands? Rangers beat Stuttgart on the opening day of action before stunning Lyon 0-3 in France.
They did pick up a battling point from 6 against Barcelona and would have qualified for the next stage if they had beaten Stuttgart last time out but were unfortunately beaten 3-2. A draw or better means progress- a defeat and they have the consolation of a place in the UEFA Cup.
Rangers were given the weekend off by the powers that be in Scotland so they could prepare fully for this match. They currently sit in 2nd in the Scottish Premier, 5 points behind their big rivals Celtic but with 2 games in hand.
Rangers have a strong record at Ibrox at 7-0-1 with 22 goals scored and only 3 conceded and are unbeaten in European competition here for 11 games. Rangers have been up and down recently, winning their last 3 domestic games but losing their 2 Champions League games from their last 5 matches. At Ibrox, they have won 3 of their last 4, the other being a 0-0 with Barcelona.
Rangers may had a weekend off to prepare, but DaMarcus Beasley, jean-Claude Darcheville and Nacho Novo will not be available for selection. Walter Smith is likely to play Daniel Cousin a role up front on his own.
Lyon
Lyon started the Champions League campaign with 2 0-3 defeats at the hands of Barcelona and Rangers. However, they turned things around by winning their 2 games with Stuttgart before gaining a home draw with the Spanish giants. All in all this leaves them with no choice but to win in Ibrox if they are to make the next round of Champions League football. Anything else leaves them with a place in the UEFA Cup.
After a disappointing start domestically, Lyon have now moved 4 points clear at the top of the French league. They have a 5-0-3 away record with 16 goals scored and 9 conceded.
Lyon lost 1-0 at Caen at the weekend which is actually their 2nd defeat in the last 5 games. However it must be noted that the defeat at the weekend snapped a 5 match winning run in away games. Another interesting point is that Lyon have only drawn 2 games all season and neither of them have been away from home.
Lyon will have to continue without Cris, Fabio Santos, Fred and Patrick Muller for this big match. Even though they played at the weekend, Lyon did manage to rest their important players either entirely or restricting them to substitute appearances, players like Karim Benzema, Juninho, Sidney Govou and Fabio Grosso.
PREDICTION :
Rangers have only lost 4 of 45 matches at home in Europe and this will be a tough ask for Lyon. However their recent 11 match unbeaten home run is Europe was started after Auxerre, another French side, came to Ibrox and won 0-2 in the UEFA Cup 3 years ago.
Lyon have really been performing better recently, and have already won in Stuttgart. I had been favouring the draw for a while but my gut instinct is telling me the price on Lyon might be worth taking.
The Pick :
GLASGOW RANGERS 0-2 LYON
BEST BETTING TIP :
BET: LYON WIN1-1 CORRECT SCORE SAVER
