Champions League top goal scorer.

[82GAMESTER]

Van Persie's ankle woe is pretty tragic. He is going to struggle to top the scoring charts now. Although it's a big loss for Wenger's men I don't think Arsenal will miss him that much such is the abundance of quality at their disposal. Eduardo is capable of scoring a lot of goals. I think Fabregas is a bigger player for Arsenal than Van Persie. If you look at the Premier League goals and assists combined charts over the last four seasons or so, Fabregas is one of the very best in the League, Van Persie doesn't come anywhere close. I wonder whether this makes the 40/1 on Fabregas look even more tempting now given it's not unlikley penalty duties will be handed to him, he can take a freekick aswell.

[musicbox]

Reports are saying Drogba will be on the bench tonight.

[82GAMESTER]

I didn't forsee Drogba starting both remaining group games, he did though. Unfortunately he only managed one goal during the two of them. Ronaldo hitting two yesterday wasn't a big surprise, I backed him to score first and he duly obliged. The reports coming out of Real Madrid before his return to the side were misleading. I think he could have played in the Portugal playoff games against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Real Madrid obviously didn't want their prize asset risked and managed to swindle the Portuguese FA with doctors medical reports. He was back in action before they had claimed he would be playing in the Champions League game against FC Zurich days after the second leg of the playoff. I am hopeful that Real Madrid will get knocked out sooner than later as their Champions League record in recent years has been less than impressive. Drogba and Fabregas have both shortened in price since my original post, you can't find better than 17/2 on Drogba now which is with betfair, he's generally 7/1 or 8/1. Fabregas has shortened marginally, the Arsenal captain does indeed look to have taken over penalty duties from RVP. If you took the 14/1 on Drogba or the 40/1 on Fabregas then it's not looking like too terrible a bet at the moment.

[82GAMESTER]

The draw for the 1st knockout stage of the competition has been made, it looks as if the English clubs haven't done too badly. There are no easy games at this stage of the competition really. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Seville are the strongest sides left bar the English trio if you believe the bookies. The prices for the top goal scorer market have changed slightly since the draw. Lyon vs Real Madrid will be interesting, Real Madrid lost their star centre back to a knee injury a week ago, 30 million euro Portuguese star Pepe will be out for six months and that might help Lyon. Arsenal should progress against Porto and Chelsea vs Inter should be fun.

AC Milan v Man Utd
Lyon v Real Madrid
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
FC Porto v Arsenal
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
VfB Stuttgart v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Inter Milan v Chelsea

[82GAMESTER]

The possibility Ronaldo won't finish top goal scorer in the champions league increased slightly after Lyon won the first leg of their knockout game 1-0. Lyon did well home and away against Liverpool this season, hopefully they can lose by a goal and score in Madrid in the second leg. It isn't at all unlikely that Lyon will manage that feat. They had the joint second best defensive record in the group stage of the champions league. Fingers crossed Real Madrid get knocked out at the expense of Lyon. It would be nice if Ronaldo failed to score in the second leg too.

I just noticed Rooney's up at 25/1 with Coral after his brace in Milan which looks too long. Rooney is in the form of his life and looks value to go on and place at worst. Man Utd are a free scoring side and Rooney's on penalties and freekicks. I wouldn't bet against him scoring at home in the second leg given how many goals Man United are scoring at home of late. Man Utd have been making the final of the competition consistently of late and it would be no surprise if they did it again this year. It looks likely that the 25/1 won't last long, most bookies are offering much shorter prices on him. 12/1 in places. If you back Rooney Each Way and he places at 25/1, you will be looking at over 2/1 on your stake.

[bold_eagle26]

82GAMESTER,
How does the place work in the top scorer market? Is it the top 3 scorers in the competition that pay out? I'll have a cheeky tenner place on Rooney, the lad is on fire at the moment and long may it continue.

[AlistAlias]

Before last nights match he was between 25/1 and 33/1 with most places but coral offered 50/1. I had a cheeky £20 and managed to lay some off at 7 in play and the rest at 15 so I've got a big +ve on him now.

I wouldn't be devastated if Madrid were eliminated too.

[82GAMESTER]

Bookmakers offer Each Way terms of 1/4 of the odds on the top four goal scorers.

[82GAMESTER]

Real Madrid just crashed out of the Champions League. Lyon did the honors. The Champions League top goal scorer list looks a bit like this now:-

7 Cristiano Ronaldo - Real Madrid have been knocked out.
4 Wayne Rooney
4 Miralem Pjanic
4 Radamel Falcao - Porto have been knocked out.
4 Stevan Jovetic - Fiorentina have been knocked out.
4 Ezin Dzeko - Wolfsburg have been knocked out.
4 Michael Owen - Owen is out injured for rest of season.
4 Milos Krasic - CSKA Moscow are likely to be knocked out by Seville in the second leg.
3 Cesc Fabregas
3 Nicklas Bendtner
3 Samir Nasri
3 Didier Drogba
3 Nicolas Anelka
3 Salomon Kalou
3 Alan Dzagoev - CSKA Moscow are likely to be knocked out by Seville in the second leg.
3 Givanildo Hulk - Porto have been knocked out.
3 Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina have been knocked out.
3 Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina have been knocked out.
3 Michael Ciani
3 Paul Scholes
3 Gaucho Ronaldinho - AC Milan have been knocked out.
3 Grafite - Wolfsburg have been knocked out.
2 Nenad Mirosavljevic
2 Sergio Aguero
2 Jeremain Lens
2 Lionel Messi
2 Pedro Pedrito
2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
2 Arjen Robben
2 Ivica Olic
2 Thomas Muller
2 Adamo Coulibaly
2 Gergely Rudolf
2 Juan Manuel Vargas
2 Marouane Chamakh
2 Dejan Stankovic
2 Diego Milito
2 Yossi Benayoun
2 Alexandre Pato
2 Filippo Inzaghi
2 Bafetimbi Gomis
2 Gabriel Ivan Heinze
2 Lucho Gonzalez
2 Gonzalez Raul
2 Gonzalo Higuain
2 Alejandro Dominguez
2 Freddie Kanoute
2 Jesus Navas
2 Luis Fabiano
2 Sebastien Squillaci
2 Milan Jovanovic
2 Pavel Pogrebnyak
2 Zdravko Kuzmanovic
1 Marcin Zewlakow
1 Abou Diaby
1 Andrei Arshavin
1 Denilson
1 Emmanuel Eboue
1 Robin van Persie
1 Sol Campbell
1 Thomas Vermaelen
1 Sabrosa Simao
1 Mendes Da Silva
1 Mounir El Hamdaoui
1 Gerard Pique
1 Hernandez Xavi
1 Anatoliy Tymoschuk
1 Daniel van Buyten
1 Jorg Butt
1 Mario Gomez
1 Mark van Bommel
1 Miroslav Klose
1 Bobo
1 Ekrem Dag
1 Rodrigo Tello
1 Frank Lampard
1 Michael Essien
1 Mark Gonzalez
1 Tomas Necid
1 Vassily Berezutsky
1 Darren Fletcher
1 Park Ji Sung

I added a little information to the players with the most goals. But not to all of the players that have scored.

Looks like it's possible Ronaldo might be caught after all. Rooney is probably the most likely candidate to achieve that feat. There are a few others in the mix. Rooney is second favorite behind Ronaldo at about 5/2 on betfair currently.

[joeyboyuk]

I didnt bother laying off any of my bets, so still have potentially big wins on Cesc and Drogba. Its a pity Fabregas didnt play against Porto this week, as he'd prob have bagged a few against tehm the way Porto were defending!

I'd love Chelsea to go out to Inter, but if they go through, a few by Drogba would soften the blow!

Just found a £25ew bet on Rooney @ 25's, so many thanks to you for posting that! I'm gonna let it ride for now