Werder Bremen v Inter - "Back the draw"
Marcel Merciak is a leading sports commentator and widely regarded as one of the most respected football experts in Slovakia. He has been commentating on football since 1995, and has covered three World Cups, four European Championships and the last seven seasons of the Champions League. Here he looks ahead to one of the big Tuesday games of matchday six of this season's European showpiece...
Werder Bremen v Inter Milan
It's Werder's farewell to European football this season with only pride to play for, whereas Inter are still competing with Tottenham to finish first in their group.
Inter suffered their fourth defeat this Serie A season on Friday, when they lost to Lazio, and the San Siro is becoming an anxious place. There were only a very few positive signs in that game and La Gazzetta dello Sport called it a "downright catastrophe" as Lazio cruised to an easy victory over last season's Champions League winners.
Massimo Moratti even announced that Inter now "must win" the upcoming Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, giving a clear sign to his manager, Rafael Benitez. The ambitious Spaniard wants to play some attractive football, but Inter are fast losing their spirit, which made them practically invincible last spring.
There are many reasons for this, dragging Rafa down: the absence of the injured striker Diego Milito, Samuel Eto'o being banned until the middle of January domestically, Thiago Motta, who ran the midfield on Friday, not being fully fit yet, with Cristian Chivu and McDonald Mariga missing. Benitez has to really think on his feet and he's not doing very well - last year's winners are sixth in Serie A with a 10-point gap behind AC Milan.
Werder are struggling too. They stand tenth in the Bundesliga, trailing leaders Borussia Dortmund by 21 points. Autumn in Europe has been a disaster for Thomas Schaaf's team, even though they can still think of the third place in the group. Not quite usual for a club that stand eighth in the UEFA club ranking for the past five years.
Marcel's tips:
Back the draw at [3.55]
Back under 2.5 goals at [1.96]
Click here to read more expert betting advice from The Specialists
Published: 7 Dec 2010
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