25-07-2007 Champions League Betting - Hopefuls Past First Hurdle

The first qualifying round of the Champions League is now complete, leaving 14 teams by the wayside, while the same number progress to round two starting July 31st, where PinnacleSports.com will be providing a complete Champions League betting menu. Those successful sides from the first round of two leg (home & away) fixtures will probably be unfamiliar to all but the most serious soccer bettors, but in round two they will meet some far more familiar names.

Familiar Names Join the Fray as Champions League Moves Up a Gear
Two former European champions join the competition at this stage – Steau Beaucharest winners in 1986 and Crvena Zvezda, (more commonly known as Red Star Belgrade) champions in 1991. Alongside these past greats, come teams that have considerable recent experience in the group stages, such as Rosenborg from Norway, Besiktas from Turkey and Rangers from the Scottish Premier League. As the standard of competitors rises, so the stakes get higher with a place in the group stages getting closer, and inevitably the pressure cranks up a notch or two.

An important champions league betting pointer to bear in mind at this stage, is looking for those sides that have already been playing competitively i.e those from Scandinavia and Northern Europe, where climate and latitude dictate that fixtures run through the summer. These teams should have a distinct fitness advantage over those sides that may have just a few friendly games under their belt.

For the minnows progressing from round one, they will treat the home leg like their own Champions League final. Their small, intimidating stadiums will make life hard for the more established sides lying in wait in round two, so you might not see the huge scorelines that the difference in pedigree suggests in those games, even where the under-dogs are not even a professional outfit. It may be a different story when the likes of Crvena entertain inferior opposition in front 55,000 fans in Belgrade, or Rangers welcome an unfancied first round qualifier to a packed Ibrox.

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