Champions League Knockout Second Leg Wednesday Predictions

By: Daryl | March 10th, 2009

All eyes will be on Old Trafford tomorrow, for the second round of The Special One vs Mr Alex. But rather than another dramatic photo of those two eying each other up and down, I thought I’d give you this instead.

The little fella to the left is Etienne, son of Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o. Etienne won’t be featuring for Barca (unless Guardiola has some heavy duty squad rotation planned) but I thought it was kind of nice that they let him have a kickaround during training.

Anyway, back to the serious stuff. Here are my predictions for Wednesday’s Champions League second legs. Leave yours in the comments and then we’ll see who’s right (hint: it’s usually not me).

Barcelona (1) vs (1) Lyon

Thierry Henry’s poaching was enough to match Juninho’s beauty of a freekick in the first leg. Which isn’t all that fair, when you think about it.

Barca already have their away goal, and therefore a theoretical advantage at Camp Nou. But the Barcelona of recent weeks isn’t the all conquering Barca we’d all gotten used to worshipping.

Prediction: Things aren’t going Barca’s way lately, and this is exactly the sort of game you can lose when that happens. I’m going to be brave and predict a 2-1 win for Lyon, with Karim Benzema the hero of the day.

Odds:
This game: Barcelona 2-5, Draw 10-3, Lyon 15-2
To advance: Barcelona 1-7, Lyon 4-1
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: Karim Benzema will then sign for Barcelona this summer.

Roma (0) vs (1) Arsenal

The idea of Arsenal defending a one goal lead fills me with confusion. How will they go about it? Attack? Play keep ball? Who knows. But the return of Eduardo and possibly Theo Walcott has to worry an injury ravaged Roma team.

Prediction: Roma to give it a valiant go, but only get a 1-1 draw for their troubles.

Odds:
For this game: Roma 11-8, Draw 21-10, Arsenal 21-10
To advance: Roma 5-2, Arsenal 2-7
More odds at PaddyPower

Man Utd (0) vs (0) Inter Milan

The big game. No two ways about it. And since the first leg ended Julio Cesar 0-0 Man Utd, will Fergie’s men regret failing to turn their first leg domination into goals?

The Special One will be hoping he’s still got some of that Old Trafford magic left from 2004, but…

Prediction: …Alex Ferguson seems to be able to bend reality to his will this season. Seriously, he’s like an elderly, Scottish, non-blue Dr Manhattan. And so he will decree this a 2-0 win for Utd.

Odds:
For this game: Man Utd 3-4, Draw 12-5, Inter 4-1
To advance: Man Utd 8-15, Inter 11-8
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: At some point, Liverpool are going to face Man Utd in the Champions League. And the press conferences alone will be worth watching.

FC Porto (2) vs (2) Atletico Madrid

Maybe not the most glamorous game compared to the big names above. But Porto have the competition’s joint top scorer in Lisandro, and Atleti have Sergio Aguero. In fact, if I had to pick which game would be most entertaining tomorrow, I’d go with this one.

Prediction: Honestly? No idea. But for arguments sake let’s say Atletico will go through on away goals after a 3-3 draw.

Odds:
For this game: Porto 13-10, Draw 9-4, Atletico 11-5
To advance: Porto 2-5, Atletico 7-4
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: Porto will not be accepting any Champions League advice from Sporting Lisbon.

For a more in-depth preview check out Champions League Offside.

OK, you’ve seen my predictions. Now let’s see yours:

Barcelona vs Lyon
Roma vs Arsenal
Man Utd vs Inter
Porto vs Atletico