I gotta do another quick preview, but will make it up to you with a detailed recap tonight. Getting home from my brother's wedding and back up to speed on work have been quite an adventure, but everything was tremendous. And, holy shit am I glad that I didn't watch the game on Saturday. Once I checked the result and saw that Franco Semioli, a winger who cannot shoot and doesn't usually try to score, put one past Bassy, I knew things weren't good. Plus, the loss of Gamberini (our only reliable defender) for 2 months is simply terrifying. Ugh.
Lineups, aka Blind Guess Dept.
Bayern: Look, we're screwed here. Ribery's fit, and glass-man Robben is too. What are the freakin odds? They have other good players, obviously, but I'm very scared of these two.
Fiorentina: 4-2-3-1: Bassy; Pasqual, Felipe, Kroldrup, LDS (gotta have his athleticisim out there to try to neutralize Ribery); Donadel, RickyMonty; Vargas, Jo-Jo, Marchionni; Gila Monster.
TeeVee
The game will air live on Setanta in the USA from 2:30 EST. If you don't have that channel, like me, you can catch a tape delay on FSC from 5:00 EST. We can exchange streams below. Due to work craziness, I'm going to have to watch it on DVR tonight.
Prediction Time:
Obviously, this is a tough game. Bayern are on fire, we're not. Its a CL knock-out first leg, so Prandelli will want to be cautious, soak up pressure and try to hit them on the break, not dissimilar from the way the team played at Anfield. An away goal would be tremendous, even if it came in a 1-1 draw or a 2-1 defeat. I'm going to say 2-1 for Bayern, with goals from Robben and Ribery. Vargas for the good guys. Forza Viola!