My best friend Mahesh Navani and I tune in each and every week to consume just about as much football as we can handle, usually we watch it at a bar close to Mahesh’s place or occasionally we’ll watch it at my place. As with most friends Mahesh Navani and I disagree on almost everything to do with football, sometimes just to wind the other up! Recenetly we have been massively locked into the Champions League as it nears the end, and even at this late semi-final stage, neither of us really know who is going to win it. We do have a rough idea so here are our picks and predictions so far, see what you think.
Ajax v Spurs
Mahesh has watched Ajax way more than I have this season and he fancies them to beat Spurs over the 2 legs, especially given that Heung Son Min for the first leg and Harry Kane for both will be out injured. I am really on the fence with this one and whilst Spurs performed heroics to get past City I do worry as well about the thin squad. Spurs will need to make a statement in the first leg and do their best to keep a clean sheet with which to take back to Amsterdam. Given that the issues which Spurs have are attacking rather than in defense, I fancy them to get a 1-0 at home and then see how they fare second leg. Mahesh disagrees completely and believes that Ajax will win both legs 1-0. And so my prediction would be a Spurs win, and for Mahesh, he fancies this young Ajax team to really make a statement.
Barcelona v Liverpool
Mahesh actually thinks that the best tie in the semi finals will be the Spurs v Ajax game and I tend to agree, yet this is the true heavyweight match up which could easily turn into a classic. Both teams come into this in brilliant form and judging by their performance in the competition so far, it looks like Messi has another European Cup in his sights. My feeling is that Liverpool know just how bad it feels to lose the Champions League final and they’ll know that beating Barcelona gives them a far more favorable final opponent. Unfortunately Barcelona know this too and I am going to side with them, but only because they can now take it easy in the league and rest players, which Liverpool cannot. Unsurprisingly Mahesh completely disagrees with me on this one and he believes that Liverpool have the attacking options to take this Barca side apart, and in Virgil van Dijk the perfect nemesis for Lionel Messi.
And so my prediction will be a Barcelona v Spurs final and for Mahesh Navani it will be an Ajax v Liverpool final, guess we’ll both end up being wrong! Where does your money go as to who will be in the final?
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