Champions League preview & tips sponsored by Stan James Bookmaker

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How important will Ballack’s perfectly executed dive be? There is no doubt that it has now made a game of it and you could see that Chelsea knew it. It took the gloss off a fine performance at Stamford Bridge and threw a lifeline to the Germans. A 2-0 victory would be enough to see them through. Stan James bookmakers bet Bayern Munich 5/4, The Draw 9/4, Chelsea 15/8. To qualify Stan James bookmakers bet Chelsea 1/8, and a very tempting 9/2 for Bayern to go through.

So can Bayern do it? Well they have nothing to lose and all the noise coming out of the German camp is that they are going to go hell for leather to achieve it. 'We want to attack so hard that the stadium walls are going to shake,' said Bayern's director of football Uli Hoeness. Fighting talk. They went three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on the weekend after a 2-1 win over Monchengladbach and this will be a positive. They know that it’s no good pussy footing about. They have to win by at least two goals. The 2-0 scoreline to Bayern is 9/1, and a 3-1 scoreline is 18-1. 4-2 is 50/1. They have to attack. It could be very interesting.

The danger man for Bayern Munich could be Roy Makaay. He’s a very experienced European striker and has a knack of scoring important goals. He’s going to give the Chelsea defence problems and is 5/1 to score first/last and 11/8 to score at anytime with Stan James bookmakers. He could be partnered by Pizarro up front and he’s a 6/1 chance to score first. Chelsea’s defence is a very solid unit but this will be a real test for them.

Looking at the statistics, it’s hard to get away from the fact that Bayern have vast experience in this competition and they will be no pushovers at home. It will be their 100th Champions League match and they have only lost once out of the 14 times they have hosted English clubs. Chelsea might be the team of the moment but Bayern Munich will have all the experience and guile.

One very interesting stat is that Bayern have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last seven Champions League matches and in the same competition, Chelsea have scored in their last 11 away matches. So we can expect goals. Over two goals is Even money and it’s got to be a good bet. As time progresses the game should open up and there should be enough chances created to get the scoreboard flicking.

The absence of Jose Mourinho will be significant. He will have to rely on his assistants to get the tactical changes right and it has to be a negative that he’s not in the thick of it. He will be there by all accounts, so we might see a repeat of the ear piece fiasco.

So, expect a fascinating game in Munich. This will probably be as tough as the Barcelona leg. The Germans will not relent for the 90 minutes and it will take all of Chelsea’s magic to go through. Log on to Stan James bookmakers for all the markets on the game.