Champions League Betting Preview: Klinsmann needs a win but Lyon are here for more than the beer

Champions League / Dave Farrar / 30 September 2008 / Leave a comment

Klinsmann and Bayern need a win but, as Dave Farrar explains, if the French champions carry their domestic form into Europe, an away win will be music to punters' ears.

These are testing times for the Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Two weeks ago, his team suffered their most humiliating defeat in recent history, 5-2 at home against Werder Bremen, and last weekend they lost at Hannover 96.

Klinsmann enjoyed the benefit of the doubt at the start of the Bundesliga season, but Liverpool fans must be more and more relieved that he didn't take over at their club. Both of these teams were supposed to win their domestic Leagues comfortably, but it's only Lyon who are fulfilling that prophecy at the moment, and there's one clear reason for that. Experience.

Klinsmann and the Lyon coach Claude Puel were team-mates at Monaco in the early 1990s, and since then, Puel has won a title with Les Monegasques, overachieved at Lille, and his nine years as a Ligue 1 coach have set him up for the biggest challenge of his career at Lyon. In comparison, Klinsmann was the cheerleader for the German national team and, after a break, has walked into one of the biggest club jobs in Europe.

Charisma is not enough. Lyon would be a confident selection to at least avoid defeat in Munich were it not for the possible return of Franck Ribery to the Bayern team. They have missed Ribery this season, but I'm prepared to take the risk that he may not start, and even if he does, will take a couple of games to find his way back to form. Think Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lyon have won on their last four visits to Germany, and beat Bayern here the last time the teams played. Much was made of Lyon's struggles against Fiorentina on the first Matchday, but the Italians are an underrated side, and while Lyon were fighting back, Bayern were escaping from Bucharest with a lucky win. Lyon are simply too big to get another victory in Germany. Bayern are being priced up as favourites because of their reputation, not the reality of their form, and those are the kind of misjudgements that should be music to our ears.

Recommendation: Back Lyon to win at [4.6]