UEFA Champions League
Soccer - Schachtor Donezk - spread -½ (+100)
for the regulation time held on Sep 18 at 1:45pm [pending]
Celtic managed a 1-1 draw at Moscow in the last round. I watched that game on streaming video, and they were extremely lucky not to give up an early goal taken away for offsides, a very poor call, and it really changed the way the game played out. As it was they spent the last 60 minutes getting peppered with shots and narrowly escaped. Shakhtar Donetsk is experienced in European play, and they know they need to gain wins when they can, because they won't get to the knockout round without them...and they are very solid at home domestically and in European play. Celtic managed to get to the last 16 last year playing a whole bunch of scoreless draws, but they're not strong on the road...I'll take even odds for the home team to win it.
A few stats: Shakhtar Donetsk are unbeaten in their last five Champions League home matches. In the group stages last season, Celtic lost 2-3 at Manchester Utd, 0-3 at Benfica and 1-3 at Copenhagen.
UEFA Champions League
Soccer - FC Schalke/Valencia - total Over 2 (-135)
for the regulation time held on Sep 18 at 1:45pm [pending]
Schalke have a reputation as a secure defensive unit, but they have conceded a goal in every game this season (typical score: 1-1). The other teams in their group are Chelsea and Rosenborg, so everybody's going to have beat up on Rosenborg, the whipping boys, while getting some good results against the other two. As Schalke is the third best on paper, they will hope to start out group play with a win at home before travleing to Rosenborg and Chelsea. As for Valencia, they are the stronger team here and tend to win their league games by 3-0 scores. I'm thinking both will score here and the question will be which will push from there. But I think the line is friendly.