Iran may be likely to head out the tournament, but they know they have the firepower to produce a major surprise. With a lot of striking strength in their side, they should feel pretty comfortable about being able to make chances. Can the Iran defence keep the enigmatic Cristiano Ronaldo quiet, though?

Iran News

Iran will be looking to try and at least get a draw, and we expect them to go quite solid with that in mind. Omid Ebrahimi will likely play, while Alireza Jahanbakhsh will be the main outlet in attack. His pace and dribbling quality is outstanding and he could offer Team Melli an outlet.

Roozbeh Cheshmi, though, will miss out most likely. This will leave Iran more likely to try and find some kind of solid formation. We expect them to look sit and break, instead leaving Portugal to have the ball.

Portugal News

Portugal, though, aren’t best suited to being the dominant party in games. They left Morocco with the ball last time out, and nearly were punished for it in a big way. Bruno Fernandes will probably come in to try give them a killer ball, with Ronaldo likely to try and play on the break.

However, with Iran likely to sit in and leave them to make the chances, there may not be the space that Portugal like to play in. with Raphael Guerreiro likely to play, too, he’ll need to show more than he did in a shocking display against Morocco.

Verdict

Portugal will win, we think, but it won’t be pretty. Both sides are quite similar in that they have firepower on the break. With both sides likely to try let the other give up spaces, it’s going to be about who makes the most of the few chances they get.

 

 

Let’s take another looks at Gareth Bale’s Champions League final wondergoal, in the Real Madrid vs Liverpool game. It has to be one of the best goals of all time, and what a time to score it.

As Chelsea try to keep their UEFA Champions League hopes alive, they travel to Wales to play Swansea City. The Jacks are in a poor run of form, with a solitary win in their last six. They’ll be hoping for something here, but Chelsea – majorly improved in the last two – will smell blood here.

Home News

The home side will be reliant on their midfield to keep things tight again. The trio of Andy King, Ki Sung-yeung and Tom Carroll provides them with ball playing skills, with the hope that they can play around the midfield duo of N’Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas.

Up front, they’ll be looking to Jordan Ayew to produce the goods, with Sam Clucas and Andre Ayew looking to make the most of their pace on the flanks. If they are to get anything here, though, they need Alfie Mawson and Mike van der Hoorn to show up and put in an imperious performance after a shellacking in their last match.

Away News

Meanwhile, the Blues rock into Wales looking a little light at the back. Marcos Alonso sits out this one, as does David Luiz and Ethan Ampadu. The trio of defenders leaves Antonio Conte a touch light at the back, and he’ll need to get creative at the back. However, with Chelsea’ propensity for dominating the ball and their ability to get in the opposition box, we expect them to push Swansea really hard for the three points here.

Verdict

It’s hard to say, but we think a draw could be on the cards. Chelsea have handled tough matches like this with ease recently, though, and will want to put the pressure on Liverpool and Tottenham with a positive result. With Liverpool playing bogey team Stoke we suspect they’ll get out of this one with a positive result.

We all no doubt enjoy the Premier League, countless thousands of fans attend competitive – and sometimes not so competitive – match ups week in week out, and pay for expensive season tickets for the privilege. Then of course we have football’s armstair supporters, who pay for a pricey cable or satellite subscription every much in order to keep up to date on the performance of their favourite football team. But exciting as the Premier League may be, the ultimate test of a team’s quality extends well beyond domestic games and into international competitions, and the cream of the crop of those just has to be the UEFA Champions League.

 

 

Held each year the UEFA Champions League brings together the top football teams from several European Nations in a league format, followed by a knockout competition. Qualifying for the competition itself isn’t easy for teams due to fierce competition in knock out rounds to decide who makes the cut. To give an idea of the magnitude of the competition in the modern game, the 2012 – 13 final drew an unbelievable TV audience of more than 350 million viewers. It’s of course a favourite with betting markets too, as football fans put their money where their mouth is and bet on their team in Champions League to progress through the competition. Available bets are so varied nowadays, HT-FT markets, correct core, number of cards, and more besides!

 

 

The Champions League has been running from the 1950’s onwards, so there’s certainly enough data at this point to judge the men from the boys in terms of who routinely dismantles their competitors. The answer is actually quite straighforward in this case since Real Madrid are winners of the Champions League an impressive 12 times in total (and runners up 3 times – suggesting that if they make it to the final, you underestimate them at your peril!). They won the tournament 5 years in a row in the 1950’s and also won in 2017 – beat that! Next up is Milan with 7 wins and 4 runner up positions. Not too shabby!

 

 

Where do the English teams rank I hear you ask? Well Liverpool have really shown their quality over the decades by managing to pick up the trophy 5 times in total, including their memorable 3 – 3 draw against Milan in 2004 – 5 where Liverpool managed to evenually sneak the win on penalties. Still, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just as long as you do! Manchester United are three time winners too, last winning tthe Champions League back in 2008. The only English team to win the touranment since that time is Chelsea in 2012 – which was also the only time they’ve won the Champions next. Who will be the next English team to lift the trophy I wonder?