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One of the best games of the day is in London at West Ham’s stadium.  Spain was almost perfect in qualification for the Euro 2024 finals with 7 wins and just 1 loss from their group. They finished above Scotland, Norway, Georgia, and Cyprus. Ending the section with a +20-goal difference. In recent friendlies they have beaten Albania, Iceland, and Jordan.  Colombia is in the middle of the long and ardous CONMEBOL World Cup qualification. They are the only unbeaten team left with 3 wins and 3 draws from their six games. Colombia are on a good run in friendlies with 5 wins and 2 draws since 2023. Wins over Mexico, Germany, and Japan the highlights.

Team rankings:

Spain – World ranked 8 with 1732 ranking points.

Colombia – World ranked 14 with 1655 ranking points.

Team news:  Spain have a very strong squad for this game, they are just missing Barcelona midfielders Gavi and Pedri . Colombia has some key players out here. Missing will be defenders Davinson Sanchez and Yerry Mina and midfielders Juan Cuadrado and Mateus Uribe.

Coach information: Spain have an ex-international player in charge. Luis de La Fuente arrived after the departure of Luis Enrique. His style is typical Spanish possesion based football but with more emphasis on crosses to a traditional centre forward. I like the Colombia manager Argentinian Nestor Lorenzo. A very suprising appointment for Colombia as he only had one managerial role. He performed some miracles at club side Melgar in Peru. His style is 4-3-3 usually with aggressive pressing up front. He has turned around the fans who were initially against his appointment.

Head-to-head statistics: 2 games – 1 win Spain and 1 draw.

Betting selection – Both sides come into this game with great form. London will be buzzing with heavy support for both sides for sure.  Colombia have become super compact under Lorenzo and their 6 qualification games have only seen 9 goals. Spain on the other hand scored 22 goals in their last 6 matches. It should be a great game but I see Spain as a great selection here and love the odds of 4-5 or 1.80 at 10bet.

UEFA Euro 2024 is our second selection as these two teams face up in Cardiff. Wales finished 3^rd in a 5-team group behind Turkey and Croatia (ahead of Armenia and Latvia) They won 3, drew 3 and lost 2 of their 10 games. Home form saw 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. At home they beat Croatia and Latvia, drew with Turkey, and lost to Armenia. Finland finished 3^rd in their 6-team group. Behind Denmark and Slovenia, ahead of Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland, and San Marino. Away form for them saw 3 wins and 2 defeats. They beat Northern Ireland, San Marino and Slovenia. Losing to Kazakhstan and Denmark.

Team rankings:

Wales – World ranked 29 with 1521 ranking points.

Finland – World ranked 60 with 1401 ranking points.

Team news: Wales are without the injured defenders Joe Low, Ben Cabango and Tom Lockyer. Winger Wes Burns is missing also. Their influential midfielder Aaron Ramsey is a doubt. They have a strange situation in goal also as their 4 goalkeepers are all back up club players so none of them have regular game time and that is a huge worry. Finland loses Inter Miami wide man Robert Taylor and that’s a blow.  Striker Marcus Forss is a doubt for the game also.

Coach information: Rob Page has been manager since 2020 for national side after promoting from Wales u21. Markku Kanerva played in Finland for 15 years and has been in the international management set up since 2004.

Head-to-head statistics: 6 games since 2009 – 2 wins Wales, 2 draws and 2 wins Finland.

Betting selection: Another close game and a one-legged semi-final where goals will be at a premium. I think the draw is a possibility for sure with so much to play for. The winners will play either Poland or Estonia for a place in Germany so a lot of pressure. I am taking double chance again here and draw/Finland at  Evens (2.00) with Skybet is the play.

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers kick off with a very close match up in Zenica.  Bosnia finished qualifying in a disappointing 5^th of 6 teams in their group. They won 3 and lost 7 of their 10 matches. Home form was not bad though with 2 wins and 3 losses. They beat Liechtenstein and Iceland in front of their home fans but lost to Portugal, Slovakia and surprisingly Luxembourg. Ukraine finished 3^rd in their group, behind England and Italy. Their 8-game record saw 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.  Away games saw 2 wins and 2 defeats. They beat Malta and North Macedonia but lost to England and Italy.

Team rankings:

Bosnia & Herzegovina – World ranked 71 with 1343 ranking points.

Ukraine – World ranked 24 with 1553 ranking points.

Team news: Bosnia & Herzegovina lost defender Adrian Leon Barasic, while Renato Gojkovic is suspended. Ukraine loses midfielder Taras Stepanenko to injury.

Coach information: Two legendary players take the helm at both countries with Savo Milosevic leading Bosnia while Serhiy Rebrov leads his country.

Head-to-head statistics: 2 games in 2021 – 1 win Ukraine and 1 draw.

Betting selection – This is a close game with very high stakes. I can see a very nervous match for both teams. This is a one-legged tie with the winner to take on Israel or Iceland for a place in Germany in the summer.  I am interested by the draw but will take Bosnia & Herzegovina double chance which gives you the home side and the draw at a best price 17-20 or 1.85 with Unibet.

Champions League Round of 16 Second leg fixtures played today are:

• Bayern Munich vs Lazio, and;
• Real Sociedad vs Paris SG

Bayern Munich is working hard behind the scenes to replace Thomas Tuchel. The leaked agreement is the Head coach will depart this summer, but at the same time the press is saying the Bayern Hierarchy is ready to let Tuchel go already now should the Bavarian giants fail to advance to the quarter finals.

Bayern played a 2-2 draw away to Freiburg Friday. Another setback that! From a Bundesliga perspective: Now they are ten points behind Leverkusen, with ten games to go. They will be without Upamecano (centre-back) and Coman (Attacker), whilst two further solid offensive weapons in Gnabry and Sane are doubtful at the time of writing. It is worth noticing that Bayern Munich has seen both teams score in their last three games (total) and also last three home games.

Lazio lost at home to Milan this weekend, and saw three players sent off in that fixture. The Romans got the 1-0 win at home, and have half a foot in the quarter final. Playing Bayern in Munich is never an easy task, but if you ever need to play them in this setting. Now is probably the best time. The mid table Serie A team will be without Patric (Defensive player) here. Another defensive player, Rovella is a major doubt. It is quite likely Lazio will play on the back foot here, parking all kinds of buses. But, they will get counter attack chances. Laying too low versus Bayern for 90+ minutes does not really look like the best solution either in a setting where the home team is struggling with team spirit. I would be surprised if Lazio does not have some possession spells of their own during the game.

At Bestpreviews.com we think this game can be quite the battle. Lazio has nothing to lose. Bayern need the win. In stead of picking a winner, our prediction is that both teams will score.