Bayern holds off Lyon to claim top spot in group

Soccer Betting Lines

12/10/2008 - Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miroslav Klose's first-half double helped Bayern Munich down Lyon, 3-2 at the Stade Gerland on Wednesday in Champions League Group F play.

Both sides entered the match having already secured passage into the knockout round, leaving the group winner as the only issue left to be decided.

The German side came out firing and went ahead 3-0 after 37 minutes. Klose scored 11 minutes into the match and Franck Ribery added a second goal in the 34th minute, with Klose adding to his tally three minutes later.

However, the home side responded with a goal from Sidney Govou shortly after the restart and another from Karim Benzema with 22 minutes to play, although they failed to find a third which allows Bayern to claim the group's top spot.

Lyon came out strong in the opening 10 minutes but the French champions found themselves a goal down in the 11th minute when a loose ball fell into the path of Klose 15 yards from goal and he lashed a shot past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

The lead was doubled when Luca Toni played a nice ball down the left wing for Ribery, who got into the box and fired inside the far post before a Klose header from close range three minutes later made it 3-0 at the break.

Ederson forced a diving stop from Bayern's Michael Rensing, but Govou was on hand to clean up the rebound, while Benzema continued his good form in the Champions League by tallying his fifth goal of the competition in the 68th minute.

The hosts final chance came with 10 minutes to play when Fred's header towards the far post was knocked to safety by Rensing, preserving the win.

Fiorentina did enough to claim the UEFA Cup spot from the group as Alberto Gilardino's goal in the 66th minute gave the Italian side a 1-0 win over Steaua Bucurest.

FC Porto pulled off a surprising 2-0 win over Arsenal to grab the top spot from Group G, while Dynamo Kyiv got a 1-0 win over Fenerbahce on Roman Eremenko's first-half goal. Porto trailed Arsenal by two points entering the day, but the Portuguese side was able to pass the Gunners as Bruno Alves scored seven minutes before halftime and Lisandro Lopez added a second goal shortly after the break, making Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger's 700th game in charge of the club a forgettable one.

Juande Ramos made a good impression in his first game in charge of Real Madrid as he led the team to a 3-0 win over UEFA Cup-bound Zenit St Petersburg. Raul scored a goal in each half with Arjen Robben scoring between the two. Juventus needed only a draw to clinch first place in the group, and Claudio Ranieri's men did just that, playing to a 0-0 deadlock with last-place BATE Borisov.

Manchester United will go through to the next round as Group E winners despite being held to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford by AaB because second-place Villarreal suffered a 2-0 defeat at Celtic. Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady both scored first-half goals for the Hoops, who failed to advance past the group stage for the first time in three years. The Danish side was already assured of a spot in the UEFA Cup, but they have to be very pleased to come away from United with a point. Carlos Tevez scored three minutes into the game before AaB went in front before halftime with goals from Michael Jakobsen and Jeppe Curt, only for Wayne Rooney to level things in the 52nd minute.

Sprotsbook Soccer Betting News

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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