ONE LADBROKES PUNTER TURNED £2 into £27k after correctly predicting the results of no less than TWENTY TWO games across Europe this week.
At odds of just under 13,500/1, the plucky shop customer backed 11 games in the Champions League, nine in the Europa League and two in the Europa Conference League, to the cool tune of £26,972.96.
And while the majority of matches came in with relative ease, the bet would’ve counted for nothing on Wednesday night, were it not for a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg winner for Spurs… which came 25 seconds AFTER the four minutes of injury-time had been played in Marseille.
Attention then turned to Thursday night, where – again – most matches were done and dusted with little to no drama.
However, with three minutes to go in the game between AZ Alkmaar and SC Dnipro (a match with nothing on the line), both teams looked like they were ready to share the points, but for a last-gasp header from Vangelis Pavlidis to make it 2-1 to the hosts, keep the monster Acca alive and ultimately turn £2 into just shy of £27k.
Alex Apati of Ladbrokes told The Boy Hotspur: “Our plucky BetStation punter has pulled off one of the bets of the season so far; we’ve no doubt they’re now Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s biggest fan!”
Betting Slip in Full
AZ Alkmaar to beat SC Dnipro – 1.33KAA Gent to beat Molde – 1.90West Ham to beat FCSB – 1.44FC Union Berlin to beat St Gilloise – 1.83Sporting Braga to beat Malmo – 1.25Roma to beat Ludogorets Razgrad – 1.28Real Betis to beat HJK Helsinki – 1.22PSV Eindhoven to beat Bodo/Glimt – 2.00Arsenal to beat FC Zurich – 1.12Manchester United to beat Real Sociedad – 2.10AS Monaco to beat Red Star Belgrade – 1.57Bayern Munich to beat Inter Milan – 1.36Liverpool to beat Napoli – 1.80Tottenham Hotspur to beat Marseille – 2.20Barcelona to beat Viktoria Plzen – 1.30Real Madrid to beat Celtic – 1.22AC Milan to beat RB Salzburg – 1.44Chelsea to beat NK Dinamo Zagreb – 1.28PSG to beat Juventus – 1.53Manchester City to beat Sevilla – 1.22Ajax to beat Rangers – 1.75Eintracht Frankfurt to beat Sporting Lisbon – 2.62
TOTAL STAKE – £2 TOTAL RETURNS – £26,972.96
No , you are perfectly correct , it is a world away from “sport” these days .
One thing you can bank on with the football player is that , if they are “fouled” and brought to ground , then “the rolling ” over and over assures me that they are fine .
I have , in all my playing -and watching – days , NEVER seen a player that is seriously injured , roll uncontrollably over the playing field . In fact , totally the opposite , when badly hurt people tend to remain very still – a very natural reaction .
The cheating that exists today is appalling and should be punished severely .
It’s all about money & the days of admitting you were beaten by a better team or being a gracious loser are long gone…therefore it’s all about winning & by any means necessary.. same goes for cricket too.. gamesmanship started declining when SKY came on the scene… coincidence I reckon 😏
Poor football. Whatever happened to the days when players earned a penalty rather than embarrassingly begging the ref for a bonus goal for play-acting? And when did referees become so gullible? Or are they? Have the authorities changed the rules regarding play within the box into a noncontact version of the game? From what I can tell, it does appear that way.
I’ve just watched De Bryne throw his arms up, arch his back and theatrically throw himself to the floor after feeling a light tap on his leg.
“Please ref, please award me a chance to score without having to deal with these irritating defenders, we can’t do it by ourselves, go on, please ref”.
I’ve seen a bit of professional rugby recently, union and league; also seen a bit of professional ice hockey in my time, all played with none of the afore mentioned nonsense on show. Why do players in other sports not suffer from a lack of respect for both their sport and themselves? How are they able to continue to honestly and authentically compete to the bitter end without snidely seeking rescue?
Unfortunately this is just one of the reasons I’m finding Premier League football less & less enjoyable. Maybe, however, it was ever thus, and I’ve only recently noticed. Perhaps what I’m really describing is the loss of my football watching innocence?
Either way it’s bloody annoying.