Defending champion Manchester United begins Champions League play on Wednesday as group stage play gets underway. Manchester United faces Villarreal on Wednesday and it is possible that Cristiano Ronaldo will make his return to the team for that match.

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Cristiano Ronaldo has missed the start of the Soccer Betting Premier League season as he recovers from ankle surgery. Ronaldo had 42 goals in all competitions last season and his return will be a welcome sight for United. The team lost to Liverpool in league play for the first time in seven years over the weekend without Ronaldo. “You have to recover, that’s the name of the game,” manager Alex Ferguson said, “It’s the Champions League and I think we are in a good group and I think we have a good chance of qualifying.”

Soccer News: Champions League Group Stage Begins

FC Barcelona and Juventus both advanced into the group stage of the Soccer Betting Champions League based on their first leg wins last week. Barcelona routed Wisla Krakow 4-0 last week while Juventus won 4-0 against Artmedia. Tuesday’s second leg results were virtually meaningless as Barcelona lost 1-0 and Juventus played Artmedia to a 1-1 draw. Juventus and FC Barcelona both easily advanced on aggregate.

Greek side Panathinaikos advanced as well into the group stage of the Champions league with a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague. Panathinaikos had won 2-1 in the first leg last week.

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Juventus has not been to the group stage for two years because they were relegated to the second division because of the match-fixing scandal. They had no trouble in this qualifying matchup with Artmedia. Barcelona advanced even though they suffered a meaningless loss that gave new coach Pep Guardiola his first defeat. “I don’t think today we have taken a step backwards in our preparations,” Guardiola said. “Perhaps we weren’t so precise but we had an opponent which was also playing and we had five or six chances with only the goalkeeper to beat. We lost but we could have drawn or even won.” Since Barcelona really had things clinched with the 4-0 win in the first leg they rested Olympic champion Lionel Messi, who recently returned from Beijing after playing for Argentina.

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On Tuesday Soccer Betting Premier League, Manchester United hosts Barcelona and a win will put them into the Champions League final. Chelsea is in even better position as they host Liverpool on Wednesday, as either a win or a draw will have them advancing. Manchester United is a half goal favorite with a total of 2.5 under at SBG Global against Barcelona. The three-way line has United at -105, Barcelona at +300 at the draw at +220.

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Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson rolled the dice and took a huge gamble on Saturday by resting stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez for Tuesday’s match. He had better hope that his team wins its next two Premier League games and that decision doesn’t come back to haunt him. He also better hope his team wins on Tuesday at home against Barcelona. United is facing injuries to striker Wayne Rooney (hip) and defender Nemanja Vidic (face). “We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” said winger Ryan Giggs, “There’s no bigger game than Barcelona. We want to win the league and we want to reach the Champions League final, and it’s still in our hands.” United is expected to take out Barcelona and advance to the final. Ronaldo was just recently named player of the year for the second straight season and he will be playing with a vengeance on Tuesday after missing a penalty kick in the first leg against Barcelona last week. “I look forward to Tuesday against Barcelona; it is the biggest game of the season in my opinion. If you win, you are in the final,” Ronaldo said, “It is a good motivation for me, for my colleagues, for my friends, everyone. I hope to win and the two league games are very important as well.”

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The Soccer Betting Champions League semifinals begin on Tuesday with first leg action as Liverpool hosts Chelsea. Barcelona plays hosts to Manchester United on Wednesday. Liverpool is led by Fernando Torres who has 30 goals this season including five in the Champions League. He was rested in Saturday’s Premier League win at Fulham so he would be fully fit for Tuesday’s match against Chelsea. “People ask me if I am getting tired now because I am coming to the end of my first season in England,” Torres said. “Of course it is a hard league, but I do not feel tired at all. When you are scoring goals and the team is winning games, you have more energy. It is only when the team is struggling and you are not playing well or scoring goals, that you don’t feel your best.”

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Liverpool has yet to lose in Champions League action. They defeated Arsenal in the quarterfinals. “The emotion I felt after the Arsenal game was very, very strong,” Torres said. “I have never felt like that before. I was almost in tears at the end of the match when the crowd were singing. If that was a quarterfinal, I can’t imagine what it will be like playing Chelsea.”

Soccer Betting Preview: Champions League Semifinals Begin Tuesday

Two of the semifinal spots in the Soccer Betting Champions League look to be going to Manchester United and FC Barcelona as both teams won on the road in the first legs last week and now are at home. The other two spots are up for grabs with Liverpool facing Arsenal and Chelsea hosting Fenerbahce on Tuesday.

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Chelsea lost 2-1 on the road at Fenerbahce in the first leg but they are heavily favored to win at home and advance. The game between Liverpool and Arsenal is a definite toss-up. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in their first leg and they also played to a 1-1 draw in league action on Saturday. This will be their third meeting within a week’s time. Arsenal has played a lot of draws lately. They have seven draws and two losses in their last 11 games. They have now fallen out of the title chase in the Premier League as they are now six points back of United and three back of Chelsea. “We will play our own game on Tuesday night and try to win, give absolutely everything,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “Now we need to recover physically and mentally because the players gave everything against Liverpool on Saturday. However, we have enough resources to qualify on Tuesday night.” Arsenal and Liverpool both rested a lot of starters in Saturday’s league match, instead putting the focus on Tuesday’s huge Champions League match.

Read more on Champions League Semifinal Spots on the Line

Manchester United and FC Barcelona won first leg road games in the quarterfinals of the Champions League putting them in excellent position to advance next week when they play the second legs at home. Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney scored as United defeated AS Roma 2-0 while Bojan Krkic scored for Barcelona in a 1-0 win over Schalke. “We can’t take anything for granted, but we definitely feel like we can reach the semifinals,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. Wednesday’s other two quarterfinal first legs have Arsenal hosting Liverpool and Fenerbahce home against Chelsea.

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Ronaldo scored a brilliant goal to give United the lead against Roma in the 39th minute as he jumped over Marco Cassetti and headed in a cross from Paul Scholes. Roma put on some pressure in the second half but couldn’t get the equalizer and Rooney scored in the 66th minute to put the game away. “Ronaldo’s goal changed the game for us,” Ferguson said. “I thought Roma had some good chances the first 15 minutes of the second half. But there are breaks in a football match and I think they were with us today.” Roma was missing injured captain Francesco Totti and his absence hurt their offense.

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Bayern Munich is the favorite to win the Soccer Betting UEFA Cup and they will try and stay on track as they host Getafe in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Thursday. If they are able to win their series against Getafe they could end up playing their German rival Bayer Leverkusen. Both teams have won the UEFA Cup before as Leverkusen won it in 1988 and Bayern in 1996. Leverkusen will be playing Zenit St. Petersburg in the quarterfinals. In the other quarterfinals on Thursday, PSV Eindhoven plays at Fiorentina, while Rangers host Sporting Lisbon.

Bayern has been trying to get information about Getafe and how they play. Franck Ribery has talked to his France teammates Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry about Getafe. “They told me that Getafe is a good team with plenty of skill and that it’s difficult to play at their stadium,” Ribery said. “That’s why it’s important for us to win our home game and the best would be not to concede a goal. We’ll have to attack and press forward.” Bayern will likely be missing striker Lucas Podolski who is doubtful with an ankle injury. Getafe is not playing well in the Spanish League this season but their form in the UEFA Cup has been much better. Getafe has already defeated Benfica and AEK Athens in addition to Anderlecht and Tottenham. Getafe is also playing in the Copa del Rey final on April 16. “This locker room transmits confidence,” Getafe president Angel Torres said. “And in reality, the locker room is the key to everything.”

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Leverkusen sits in fourth place in the Bundesliga, trailing Bayern by 10 points. The team will have to deal with Zenit striker Pavel Pogrebnyak if they expect to win.

Read more on Soccer Betting Preview: UEFA Cup Quarterfinals Begin Thursday

Champions League quarterfinal action begins on Tuesday with the first legs as AS Roma hosts Manchester United while Schalke is home to Barcelona. Roma will be facing a tough test, especially without Francesco Totti. Barcelona is not in the best of shape in their match as they will be without Lionel Messi and Deco. They may also be without Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho.

Totti tore a muscle in his left thigh over the weekend in Roma’s draw versus Cagliari. “The team loses in percentage terms for the extraordinary things he’s capable of,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said, “But I have a lot of confidence that the team will assume the responsibility of picking up the slack, just as they’ve done in the past when we’ve been without our captain.” United may have been favored anyway and now that Totti is out they are expected to at least get a draw. “Roma is going to be a massive game for us and we prepared the right way with the win against Villa,” said United’s Wayne Rooney, “To be at this club, with the football we play at times, is brilliant. It’s something every player would want to be a part of.”

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Barcelona is still favored to beat Schalke but with four stars possibly missing the game, it is no longer a certainty. Barcelona blew a 2-0 lead over the weekend to Betis in league action and is seven points back of Real Madrid in the Spanish league.

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The draw for the quarterfinals of the Soccer Betting Champions League was held on Friday and Arsenal will face Liverpool while Manchester United will play AS Roma. Barcelona takes on Schalke and Chelsea takes on Fenerbahce. The semifinal draw was also held. The winner of Arsenal-Liverpool faces the winner of Chelsea-Fenerbahce. The winner of United-Roma faces the winner of Barcelona-Schalke. The first legs of the quarterfinals are scheduled for Tuesday, April 1st and Wednesday, April 2nd.

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“I think it’s challenging, interesting as well. It’s a good opportunity to be consistent against Liverpool because it’s three very important games for us,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, “It’s amazing but not surprising because I have seen that many times.” It would seem from the quarterfinal draw that United and Barcelona would be headed for a great semifinal while Chelsea would face the Liverpool-Arsenal winner. The Liverpool-Arsenal match looks to be a classic test in the quarterfinal round.

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A seemingly safe lead of nine points in the Spanish League has dwindled to five for Real Madrid. FC Barcelona is rolling over everyone and is looking like a serious threat. Madrid has 56 points in first place, Barcelona has 51 and sits in second with Villarreal at 43 points in third and Atletico Madrid with 41 points in fourth.

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Barcelona has not lost this year in 11 games including a 3-2 Champions League win at Celtic on Wednesday. Barcelona has some serious talent with Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o. The win against Celtic was impressive. “It was one of our best games of the year,” captain Carles Puyol said. “We’ve rediscovered the pressure in our play that we did well in other seasons, and you can see the difference.” Barcelona has the leading scorer in Europe in Lionel Messi. Henry and Ronaldinho are also looking good.

The pressure is starting to mount on Real Madrid. “A week ago, everyone was saying the league was ours,” Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze said. “I don’t care about Barcelona. I have a lot of work to do on my team, which is the only one I think about.” Madrid is coming off a loss to AS Rosma and they are dealing with injuries. They were missing Robinho and Wesley Sneijder upfront and Pepe on defense. Madrid has to play their rival, Getafe on Sunday.

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