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I appreciate Bayern and everything Pep Guardiola managed to achieve there, but this doesn't make much sense in my opinion. City are the English champion, and I'd struggle to find a team that are a complete favorite against them. An out of form Bayer with Ribbery, Schweinsteiger and Rafinha missing and with Robben in question cannot decisively beat City. On the contrary, I believe the English can surprise today, as they have the quality. The strength of Bayern was in their wingers and the heart of the midfield. Robben, Ribery, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, even Lahm, who did great work last year as defensive midfielder. Lahm is going back to right side as Rafinha is missing, Xabi Alonso just started put all the dots together in the team, Goetze and Lewandowski have yet to get used to the leading roles in Bayern. Far from it that the Bavarian team are bad, but they're not facing some underdog team: Kompnay, Toure, David Silva, Nasri, Džeko. Details

First of all, I don't agree with the basic odds here - I think Sporting are mild favorites at best. But what Maribor are particularly underrated are shots on target. The "Violas" are a good attacking team with a couple of talented offensive players like Tavares, Zahovič and Biton. They're in good form, playing at home. They've gone over this margin in both previous rounds, at home and away: 5 and 6 against Celtic and 8 and 5 against Maccabi. The visitors are the better team but have only started their season under new coach and are without their crucial defender Rojo and Dier, who would also be in first 11. They've only had difficult game, the one against Benfica who had 7 shots on target and a total of 17 shots altogether. Details

Although games such as this one are difficult to predict, I just have to try a bet on Zbornaja, for several reasons. The last info we got says Petrov is ready to play, so the Russians will have their "natural" opposite. Pavlov is not a world class player, but his experience helps the team a lot. Brazil will once again be missing Murilo, which was quite obviously a problem yesterday. He is this team's most experienced player, the best on defense besides libero Mario, and his sub Fonteles is still primarily an offense player and never did well on defense. Playing with two offensive receivers is always a risk, even with teams such as Brazil. Wallace is not fully fit and entered from the bench yesterday, even if he were to play I doubt it would make any difference. Fatigue is the second factor. Brazil have changed venues and played an exhausting match last night while Russia rested and watched. After the match none of Brazil players arrived to the mandatory press conference, and the post-game fallout started to surface in the morning. Selector Rezende showed the middle finger to a Polish reporter, Lucarelli complained that Poland provoked them, and they were picking a fight with anyone off court after the match, which just means they're nervous and pressuring the organizers and refs as a loss would mean goodbye to a medal. It's been less than a day since the last match, and with all the mess after it I would not be surprised if the crowd was against them. Poland could get to the semifinal if Russia wins, and I believe the fans will forget the traditional animosity and support them. Brazil beat the Russians in the last match, but everything suggests the selector hid some of his moves in that match for the future game. Russia would eliminate the main title contender if they won and practically put a hand on the trophy, so they'll be motivated enough. With all that said, the Russians should not be underestimated, the odds on Brazil are declining based on the last match, but yesterday's events favor Russia. I doubt they wish to bet the semifinal on a match against the home team in front of 15 thousand frantic fans and somewhat supporting referees. I expected close odds, so anything over @1,90 on Russia is a nice value. Details

Cesson beat Dunkerque away in the first round and as great as it sounds it's not a crucial thing for me today. They were down by 15-9 in that game, Dunkerque are weaker than last year, they have major problems with offense and Cesson only made use of what was offered. Despite changing their coach, the departure of Benjamin Briffe, Anić and Genty cost them three first-team players that are hard to replace. They brought in some interesting replacements in terms of Robin on goal, Redei and Skatar on right back but they lost more than they gained. On the other hand, Toulouse have kept 90% of their team, they changed their keepers and got Dumoulin, one of the best keepers in the league. Everything else stayed the same except for a new coach who's looking for a better defense. They beat Chambery at the start here, they lost the fourth spot here last season and they emphasize that as a huge motivation for them. I think they have a better team and they can get the points.Fernandez - Anđelković - Porte seem like a better option than Briffe - Batinović - Skatar (Redei), while Toulouse's rotations also seems better. Details

We've already had Viborg on under as a value option several times. The reasons are well known, a shallow rotation, inexperienced bench and relying on tried and true strength. Last week they brought in left winger Henrieete Mikkelsen, whom they've pulled "out of retirement" and who will certainly be a plus on the rotation with her experience, but is out of form considering how long she's been off the court. This still leaves nine players at best playing both sides of the court for nearly 60 minutes, which gave a maximum of 50 goals in their matches in the last four rounds. On the other hand we have the rookie Aarhus team, who have several physically vry strong players, dominating defense, Palsdottir of Iceland as the central figure of defense, and Danish junior team representative, right back Mete Tranborg. Due to back issues she only plays on defense, they switch players in transition so it's not very quick. Aarhus are missing a classic lefthanded right back currently, so they're combining two left backs and one middle back. They were lacked goals from the wings in the past few matches. Aarhus went over this margin in two matches, the one against Kopenhagen ended at 51, but their last two against favored Randers and Holstebro ended deep under. The conditions for fewer goals are excellent here, and the only thing that could disturb this setup is an early collapse by Aarhus, but their game and toughness so far doesn't indicate such a scenario. Details

Gorica won all three league duels with Inter, and were victorious in both away matches. This season they're much better, while their coach Lončarević is very familiar with the strengths of Inter, having coached them for years. Zaprešić are winning, but are not impressive while doing it, everything depends on the mood of their brilliant forward Nestorovski. Gorica on the other hand also have a great scorer, Kiš, and have no issues with absences unlike the home team. Inter are missing two starters on defense, and Gorica have already beaten them plenty of times last season... Details

There is no worse time to play away against Savehof than at the season's opening. If we look back at the 2013/14 season opening, we see they "dismantled" Hoors back then, who are one of their equals. The end result was 31-12, with 17-3 at halftime. Today their opening opponent are Eslov, a team nowhere near the quality of Hoors, especially after this summer. They lost two key players (Olsson, Tollbring) and a few more important members of their rotation, their biggest potential reinforcement Sandell injured her knee, and their first pivot Hedenquist will also miss the opening match. Savehof have also lost four players this summer, but they'll definitely have an easier time replacing them. Six victories and a draw in their tour of Norway and Denmark prove that - this Savehof cannot have been lucky to score a win and a draw against Midtyjlland, last season's competitor in the F4 Champions League. Signell guarantees that their team is just as strong as they were last season, the results back him up, and with the full throttle attitude his players will surely have today, Eslov seem much closer to a 20 goal defeat to me. Details

The fact is that the situation in Kostrena is a disaster but Pomorac's players still want to succeed. Segesta have played 10 away games against Pomorac and have gotten 7 defeats and 3 draws, which means they haven't won a single game. Now they say they would be happy witth a single point as they are coming with a weakened squad. They are without their main right-back, center-back and center-forward and the depth of their squad is not sufficient to make up for this absence. Pomorac are in dire straits and will probably not be able to save themselves but they can't lose every game until the end of the season. Segesta are a good chance for the worst team in the second division to get their first points. Details

Jozef Kovalik is playing good tennis no doubt about that, especially in comparison to previous season. But besides winning the title in Meerbusch he hadn't had consecutive challenger wins this season and he barely beat Riba last week and lost against Kontinen. As good as he is, he's still unproven as a challenger player while Haase is still an ATP player, depsite everything. And a clear ATP player who got two DC wins last weekend against Delić and Čorić. They may not be household names but the two have been very successful this season. Haase lacked confidence and I believe these two matches gave him this confidence. He has a very weak score at the challenger level this season but he didn't lose against weak players. He lost against his compatriot Huta-Galund twice, and that's obviously one player that doesn't suit him as he lost against him last season. He lost against Gombos who reached the final in Prostejov. Despite Haase's complaints about his wrist after the match against Delić, I believe it's not as bad as it seems. Every player has a one or two major injuries and Haase wouldn't be here if he couldn't play, this isn't Wimbledon. Kovalik is not a proven name at this level and I still tend to trust ATP players more than challenger or semi-challenger players and that's the case here. That has so far been the right tactic in the long run. I think the realistic odds on Haase should be under 1.50. Details

You might remember I played on Munoz-De La Nava taking a set from Hanescuu two weeks ago in the Alphen semifinal. The Spaniard not only took the set, but won as well, and easily I might add. The Romanian is still a big name, and the odds lean towards him due to that, but he did nothing to earn that respect if we look at his overall performance. You can see it both in his games and results. Four challengers and only five victories don't match his ranking and pedigree. He has some issues, in my opinion primarily with motivation when playing challengers, as this is a player with more than 400 ATP matches. It's hard to slide into mediocrity, and he is sliding right now. It's my impression his career is on a downward trajectory, while Delić is shooting up. He played the final in a challenger two weeks ago, and also beat Troicki, Džumhur and Beck. Regardless of all that, he played two brilliant matches in the Davis Cup this weekend. The pressure was all on him, and after the initial stiffness wore off, he won perhaps the crucial point against Sijsling. He had 2-0 against Haase, and the Dutch was hanging by his teeth in the third. Mate allowed a single break point in the third set, at the wrong time, and lost the set. However, that was one of those defeats that actually boosts confidence, and he was showing it. He is coming here confident he can face a Top 100 player, and with faith in his tennis, as well as eager to prove himself after an adrenaline filled weekend and a great season. Hanescu seems to lack the drive, is in a so-so mood, and Delić is playing what could be the game of a lifetime. The difference in form and attitude is heavily in favor of Delić, and I'd say he has a shot at victory today, a much bigger one than the odds suggest it. Details