The £10 to £10k Challenge: From Greece to Guatemala via Germany

It’s £10k time again folks and after taking an eternity (14 bets) to get from a tenner to £100, I’m already well on the way to the double century.

My usual Champions League tipple is for Real Madrid to score goals and bet 16 of the challenge was for Los Blancos to notch away in Dortmund.

For the third time in a row, Jose Mourinho’s men obliged and took me from £123.83 to £141.17 and having looked around bwin’s multitude of markets this weekend, I’m confident of closing in on the £200 mark pretty soon.

Last Saturday, I spied a bargain at 11/50 for Greek champions and serial home winners Olympiakos to beat relegation fodder Xanthi and they duly did 4-0. This was after backing Slovenian monopoly NK Maribor to do likewise at home to Mura 05 and Porto to beat Beira-Mar.

The running theme here is that someone, somewhere atop a far-off league will be at home against a side with sod all chance of getting anything and if you look hard enough and pick your games, you can get good value to boot. It’s bully boy tactics, so come and have a moan if you think you’re hard enough.

After watching the mightily impressive Shakhtar Donetsk dismantle Chelsea on Tuesday I fancied a bit of the Ukrainians, especially after finding out they’ve won 27 of their last 28 league matches. But Mircea Lucescu’s side are away to someone called Tavriya and I’m a bit conscious it could be a matter of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’. And with Shakhtar priced at 7/50, I feel I can get better value elsewhere.

Also on the end of a continental hiding over the past few days were Arsenal and Manchester City and those two have the opportunity to bounce back with presentable home games against QPR and Swansea City. The prices don’t look too bad either with the Gunners at 9/25 and City 11/50, but I think the champions are on the verge of a ‘massive’ meltdown and I never fancy going near Arsenal.

North of the border, Celtic are strong 1/5 favourites to beat Kilmarnock but how much will chasing shadows for 95 minutes in Barcelona have taken out of them? And speaking of Barcelona, both they and Real Madrid are big odds on favourites despite iffy-looking away days.

I then stumbled across a bet which really got me thinking about how much I’m willing to risk losing my hard-earned dollar for the sake of a punt which will effectively bring me in an extra couple of quid.

Turkish leaders Galatasaray are at home to Kayserispor, who are hovering above the drop zone with only two wins all season and Gala are 33/100 for the three points – a bet that would take me up to almost £200. But when I did my homework, I found out Galatasaray are without a win in six and with no inside knowledge of what’s going on in the lunatic asylum of Turkish football, I thought that best avoided too.

Other honourable mentions go to BATE Borisov, Porto, Atletico Paranaense, Spartak Moscow, Partizan Belgrade and Steaua Bucharest, but after much deliberation and mind-changing, I’m pleased to announce that this weekend’s lucky recipient of the John Baines memorial poisoned chalice goes to Comunicaciones of Guatemala.

Now for those of you not in the know about Guatemalan football, Comunicaciones were formed in 1949 and adopted by the Ministry of Communication. They have boasted many great local players as well as some impressive foreign imports. They have won 24 league titles, only four short of Municipal’s record of 28. Also, they have won five domestic cup titles as well as three major CONCACAF club titles. Apparently…

More to the point, ‘The Creams’ – which is, in my opinion, the smoothest nickname for a football team I’ve ever heard – are charging away with the league after posting seven wins and a draw from eight and have the chance to continue that run when they host second-bottom Deportivo Petapa in the early hours of Sunday morning. Our time, not theirs.

The Creams have won 17 of 19 at home and haven’t conceded in their last nine, which appears to be bad news for Petapa, who have lost 12 of their last 15 away games and by my reckoning haven’t kept a clean sheet on their travels for about a millennium.

What’s more, all of this is brought to you by bwin for the bargain bucket price of 1/4, which would take me up to £176.46 should it come in.

Bet 17: Comunicaciones to beat Deportivo Petapa @ 1/4

Current Balance: £141.17
Potential Balance: £176.46