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Manchester City and Milan will face of in the semifinals of the Audi Cup, a competition that also features Sao Paulo and Bayern. The match will be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Both teams are early in their pre-season training campaign, but City is ahead of the italians, starting the preparations earlier, playing four matches and winning the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong. For Milan, this is only the second game of the pre-season if you exclude the Trofeo TIM, where they played another total of 90 minutes of football.
City is of course a better team than AC Milan, but the difference is not so big to count on in a friendly game, though the Audi Cup is a somewhat important friendly competition, approached with professionalism by all the participating teams. The big thing here is that Milan has colossal squad problems with a huge number of missing players. Allegri won`t be able to count on Abate, De Sciglio, Pazzini, Zapata, Bonera, Robinho, Mexes, Montolivo, Saponnara and star striker Balotelli. These are 10 unavailable players, and most of them are key pieces.
Milan will probably field the following first-eleven today: Abbiati – Constant, Vergara, Zacardo, Antonini – Nocerino, De Jong, Poli – Boateng – Niang, El Shaarawy.
While this team still looks decent, it`s far away from what City will bring to the table. The biggest problems will be in defense. Also, Allegri has absolutely no bench, having to rely on youngsters, with only Emanuelson, Muntari and keeper Amelia having extended experience at high level.
City has only two injury concerns, Nastasic and Richards, and Pellegrini will field the best available squad at his disposal.
Milan should have big problems with an improvised back line against the offensive power of Manchester City. Pellegrini is an offensive coach, putting much emphasss on attacking movement, so the english team will look to score today, thus putting pressure on the italians. The Premier League vice-champions were favorites to win this anyway, due to their quality, but with this huge problems that Milan is having, they really should advance comfortably.
Also, Milan has a very poor record at the Audi Cup, finishing 4th in their last two appearances. This is not just a coincidence, it`s related to the pre-season schedule that the italians usually adopt.
Despite this being a friendly, the circumstances are fantastic for a City win and I have to recommend high stakes because there`s no doubt in my mind that this bet has ‘value’ written all over it. Manchester City to win.
Pick: Manchester City
Odds: 1.93 @ Sbobet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 8.37
Event date: 31 July
