The Longshot: Can Inter knock Pep out of City on the big stage?

IF THERE is one way to take a pep out of someone’s step, to take them down a pep or two, it is to tell them they are not quite as good at something as they think they are.

Take this betting page: I’ll often it to not being overly successful at tipping sports winners and even close friends will immediately respond that I’m much worse than that.

But years of intense bullying from pre-school to college, most of it well deserved, means I can take most of the muck thrown in my direction. But not everyone has a thick casing of mud slathered over their thin skin.

Look at the Man City boss. A huge achiever and generally hailed as the best manager of the modern football era, but bring up awkward little facts like not being able to guide Bayern Munich to Champions League glory during his three-year stint there (having replaced Jupp Heynckes after he had just won it) or failure so far to bring European success to Manchester and it gets his back up no end.

Fail to win tomorrow against Inter Milan and the asterisk stays (although there could be plenty of asterisks flung at Man City).

Do the Italians have any chance, their attack being led by someone whose prime was with City a decade ago and two World Cup flops?

They are 7/2 to lift the trophy and 13/2 to win the game, which looks a bit stingy considering who they are up against and how they have performed this year (although they have won 10 of their last 11 games in all competitions, and ended up third in Serie A, albeit 18 points behind winners Napoli).

They have been in five Champions League finals, winning three and losing two (the first to Celtic).

Can Dzeko, Lukaku or Lautaro Martinez be the hero of a Champions League final? The last was my choice for top scorer at the World Cup (Total: 0) but he has notched up 24 and nine assists for his club, although the Argentine with the fantastic haircut has scored just three times in the Champions League.

City enter the tie after a run of 11 consecutive league wins which was enough to see them lift their third Premier League title in three years with three games to spare. They are now on the cusp of winning a treble after they beat Man United more comprehensively that the 2-1 scoreline suggests last weekend for the FA Cup.

Pep Guardiola’s men completely outplayed reigning champions Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final and they looked a far stronger challenge than Inter.

With a whopping 12 Champions League goals to his name so far, Erling Haaland has been installed as the 12/5 favourite to open the scoring ahead of Julian Alvarez, Riyad Mahrez, and Kevin De Bruyne, while the in-form Ilkay Gundogan is 11/1 to break the deadlock.

Champions League finals have a habit of being cagy and far from entertaining.

The last three finals have been won 1-0. The only decider in recent memory where both sides brought their A-game to the decider was the 2015 Barcelona-Juventus clash that saw the Catalans win 3-1.

Although we do usually get some very exciting semi-finals before a boring final.So maybe the reverse can happen here.

Rodgers favoured to be Celtic manager again

BRENDAN RODGERS is the 11/10 favourite in the market to become the next manager of Celtic.

Ange Postecoglou, who won five of the six available domestic trophies during his two-year stint at Parkhead has left to Spurs.

Antrim man Rodgers spent a successful three years in Glasgow before departing to take up the Leicester job in 2019.

He guided Celtic to the domestic treble on two occasions while in charge and oversaw a 69-game unbeaten run in Scotland which set a new record.

He would go on to win a historic FA Cup at Leicester, who twice finished in the top-five under his charge, only for the club to crumble last season, which resulted in his exit and their subsequent relegation under his replacement Dean Smith.

The manner of his Rodgers’ Celtic departure when the club was on course for a treble-treble angered many Hoops fans.

Next in the running is Enzo Maresca whose price is now 5/1.

Maresca is currently working as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Man City who are looking to achieve their own treble on Saturday when they take on Inter Milan in the Champions League.

The Italian previously managed City’s Elite Development Squad, where he won the Premier League Two title, and had a short stint in charge of Parma in Serie B.

Kjetil Knutsen is 14/1 and has been linked with a move to both Scotland and England for the last couple of years but nothing has yet materialised. On a tiny budget and producing a attractive brand of football, the FK Boda/Glimt boss has won two Norwegian titles and been named the Coach of the Year three times.

He handed Jose Mourinho the heaviest defeat of his career in a 6-1 Europa Conference League win over Roma in 2021/22 and beat Celtic twice in that same season.

West Ham boss David Moyes is 16/1. He led the Hammers to Europa Conference League glory on Wednesday night (my choice of headline was ‘Bowen arrow nails it for Hammers’ but what do I know?) Former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter is 25/1 as he seeks a return to the dugout, as is ex-Leeds boss Jesse Marsc.

Celtic legend and now Fleetwood head coach Scott Brown is a 50/1 outsider alongside Rafa Benitez, Middlesbrough’s Michael Carrick, and Austrian coach Adi Hutter, with Neil Lennon, all at that massive price.

Nuggets hot against Heat

IF SOMEONE was to say to you “Heat Nuggets” your first thought would probably be that it’s taken them too long to return from the drive-thru and their dinner has gone cold.

And you might be right, but it also of course the two teams in the NBA finals playoff this summer.

The Denver Nuggets took a 2-1 lead against the Miami Heat yesterday with an away win and in the early hours of tomorrow morning they will hope to take a 3-1 advantage back to Denver over the weekend. Denver have won their last four away games while Miami have lost their last three at home.

The Colorado side have never won the championship and after entering the best-of-7 as hot favourites, they are now 2/9 and 5/4 to win 4-1 against the Jimmy Butler led side from Dade county in Florida.

Will Kane Real-ly stay?

HARRY KANE is now favoured to stay at Spurs this summer, while Real Madrid are the 6/4 second favourites to be his next club when the transfer window closes.

There was a market move in Spurs’ favour with 30-goal in a poor season Kane now 11/8 to stay at Tottenham this summer. The Spanish giants will be on the lookout for a new striker following the announcement that Karim Benzema is departing after 14 years at the Bernabeu.

Kane could become a main figure across the summer window as discussion surrounding his future intensifies following Tottenham’s failure to qualify for European football.

Banner can win sold-out final

THE Munster hurling final almost sold out as soon as tickets went up, refuting the axiom that only the two All-Ireland finals are the only annual sell-outs in the GAA.

Clare gave up the chance to take on fellow Shannonsiders at a neutral venue, however considering the Gaelic Grounds is only a short jog down the road from the Banner County there won’t be too many suggesting it will be a factor, especially considering Brian Lohan’s side’s win there a few short weeks ago.

The All-Ireland triple champs are still rated as 8/13 favourites for the game, with Clare 9/4 and considering it took extra time to separate them last year in the same fixture we will plump for Clare to win by 4-6 points at 17/2.

Although the Treaty side will still likely take a fourth title in July.

The Bet

WE ARE finding it too hard to see Inter put up any sort of challenge, despite Pep managing to oversee some stunning collapses while being a favourite. Take City to win 4-1 at 22/1 and Erling Haaland to score twice at 10/3.