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This Thursday sees the introduction of some giants of the European game into the qualifying stages of the Europa League. Will they cruise through or will we see some major upsets?

BetRepublic.com previews three games featuring the big sides here.

Rabotnicki vs Liverpool Soccer Betting Tips :

A new chapter in the life of Liverpool football club gets underway this Thursday evening in Skopje, Macedonia as new manager Roy Hodgson and his men look to defeat the side that finished 2nd in the Macedonian league last season.BetRepublic.com make Liverpool the 1/5 favourites to claim victory in this first leg tie with Rabotnicki are available at 8/1 and the draw can be backed at 9/2.

Since replacing Rafael Benitez as manager of Liverpool on July 1st Hodgson has signalled his intent to make the fans forget last season’s poor campaign that saw the 2005 Champions League winners finish in seventh place in the Premier League.

Hodgson has brought in quality and potential so far with Joe Cole from Chelsea and Serbian striker Milan Jovanovi and #263; signing on as well as 19 year old Danny Wilson from Rangers. However, this good news has been counteracted by the fact that star striker Fernando Torres is out injured and midfield general Javier Mascherano has informed the club he will be leaving. Will Liverpool be able to put all this aside and defeat the Macedonians?

The team from Merseyside should have no problems in winning this game and Rabotnicki have only progressed past the qualifying stage of European competitions twice since 2000. On both of these occasions they were beaten in the first round – in 2006 by FC Basel and by Bolton Wanderers in 2007.

However, of the two sides, Rabotnicki are the more active having played four competitive games so far, beating Lusitanos in the first qualifying round 11-0 on aggregate, then beating Mika 1-0 on aggregate to book their place in this match. Will it make any difference for the massive outsiders?

I cannot see anything making any difference and I fully expect Liverpool to cruise to victory in this game. My money is on Liverpool to be leading at half time and then to win the match at odds of 10/11 and Liverpool to win by at least two goals at evens.

Shamrock Rovers v Juventus:

After defeating Bnei Yehuda 2-1 on aggregate over the last two weeks, Shamrock Rovers have booked possibly the biggest game in their history this week as they take on the Italian giants Juventus. Books, unsurprisingly, make Juventus the 1/5 favourites to win in Dublin, with Shamrock Rovers available at 8/1 and the draw can be backed at 9/2.

Just like Liverpool, Juventus had a poor season last year as the 1996 Champions League winners could only finish seventh in Serie A. They were knocked out of the group stages of the Champions League and they have now appointed their fourth manager in just over two years. Will Shamrock Rovers be able to take advantage of the chaos that Juventus seem to be in at the moment?

Rovers are well into their domestic season in the Republic of Ireland and are second in the league on goal difference alone after twenty-two games. They finished second in the league last season after going bankrupt less than five years ago.

They are currently undefeated in their last fifteen matches and will be no pushovers, but with players of the calibre of Gianluigi Buffon and Alessandro Del Piero in the Juventus squad, the Italians should claim victory in Dublin.

With the home crowd cheering them on I feel that Shamrock Rovers will get off to a great start and, while I feel Juventus will win, my money is on the game to level at half time and Juventus to win at odds of 3/1 and over 2.5 goals to be scored in the game at 8/13.

BetRepublic.com Recommends:

Liverpool/Liverpool HT/FT @ 10/11

Liverpool -1 v Rabotnicki @ evens

Draw/Juventus HT/FT @ 3/1

Over 2.5 goals to be scored in the Shamrock Rovers v Juventus game @ 8/13

Check out more Soccer Betting Tips.

Thursday’s Europa League Betting – Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid

Despite taking extremely long coach journeys to last week’s first leg ties, both Fulham and Liverpool are not in bad shape for their second leg matches on home soil. Fulham managed to come away from Hamburg with a 0-0 draw while Liverpool went down 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, will we see an all-English final? BetRepublic.com previews both Semi Final second leg games here:

Fulham v Hamburg (0-0):

According to Soccer Betting Tip Fulham have the advantage in this game and are the favourites to win at 6/5, while both the draw and a Hamburg victory are available at 23/10. The London side have won eight of their last eleven home matches in all competitions, drawing two and losing just once.

They have scored just under an average of two goals a game in that run with twenty-one scored in the eleven matches and seven goals conceded with five clean sheets. They rested eight players at the weekend in the match at Everton and they will be fired up for this game.

Hamburg will be equally, if not more, fired up for the game knowing that the final will be played at their home stadium. As a result they rested their first team at the weekend and were beaten 5-1 away at Hoffenheim. They travel to Craven Cottage having lost six of their last eight away games in all competitions. They have won the other two games, one of which was against Standard Liege in the Quarter Finals of this competition, however they will find it difficult going against Fulham.

BetRepublic.com Recommends: Back Fulham to win in ninety minutes @ 6/5 and there to be over 2.5 goals @ 11/10.

Liverpool v Atletico Madrid (0-1):

Liverpool will go into this game highly confident, knowing that they have won ten and drawn one of their last eleven home games in all competition, while Atletico have lost six, drawn three and won one of their last ten away matches.

In their eleven game unbeaten run at Anfield Liverpool have kept eight clean sheets and only conceded three goals – one each against Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth and Benfica. They have also scored twenty-five goals in that time, but they go into this game without talismanic striker Fernando Torres to find the net.

Despite being so poor on the road, Atletico have won one and drawn two in their three away games, scoring two goals in each match. Another one of these results would be enough for the Spanish side to progress to the final with their one goal advantage from the first leg. They have found the net on eleven of their last fifteen away games in all competitions and have conceded in thirteen of the fifteen. As a result of this and the fact that Liverpool have to score to progress I expect an open an entertaining match.

BetRepublic.com Recommends: Back the draw @ 3/1 with both sides to score @ 8/11

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Despite taking extremely long coach journeys to last week’s first leg ties, both Fulham and Liverpool are not in bad shape for their second leg matches on home soil.