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.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.