The football calendar may have been turned upside-down and inside-out by the coronavirus, but the shake-up of soccer schedules has stopped our plucky punters from plundering Paddy’s pockets in spectacular style.
While the Premier League hiatus may have sent Leicester plummeting out of the top 4 and Watford into the Championship, some shrewdies have soared to the top of the table with their belting bets in the time since football returned.
Who’s on the move this summer? Get the latest odds at PaddyPower.comIt might take a bit of searching to find the best bets to build a big-odds acca now that the top leagues are finished, but one of our bettors found an 8,580/1 fourfold last weekend that had Paddy’s eyes watering when they stuck a fiver on it.
It turns out picking for correct scores will give you a huge win – shocking, I know.
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First up, it was Europe’spremier competition, the UEFA Champions League and a huge clash that grabbed the attention of the continent – Tre Fiore v Linfield.
Wait, what?
Yes, that’s right, it may have escaped your attention – largely because the 2019/20 European Cup hasn’t even been awarded yet – but the 2020/21 version of the competition is already underway.
San Marino’s champions Tre Fiori took on their Northern Irish counterparts on Saturday afternoon as a starter ahead of the slightly higher-profile main course of Saturday games – and one lucky sort got their fab fourfold off to a winning start when they predicted the Belfast side ran out 2-0 winners at 11/2 thanks to a pair of super-sub strikes from Christy Manzinga and Bastien Héry.
And one winner became three later that evening when first, Bayern Munich banged in four more goals against Chelsea’s sieve-like defence versus a Tammy Abraham response as the perpetual German Champions finished 4-1 winners at an empty Allianz Arena to punch their way into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as predicted by our winner.
Respect to Robert Lewandowski notching his 53rd goal of the season in the 83rd minute to make it 4-1, crucially bringing in the 14/1 correct score prediction.
Minutes after the final whistle in Munich, Barcelona were also on their way to Portugal for the final eight of the rejigged tournament after a 3-1 win in their second leg against Napoli in the Nou Camp, with all four goals scored in the opening half, including Messi’s, well, very messy dribble followed by a sublime finish.
Lionel Messi just never fails to amaze 🤩
Doesn't matter how many defenders try and stop him, he's on a different level!#Club2020 pic.twitter.com/dDCggick5q
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 8, 2020
That scoreline saw our winner add a 10/1 winning line to their acca, meaning these three top calls would’ve added up to a winning bet of 1,071/1. Not bad… except it would all come to zilch if Shamrock Rovers failed to beat Derry City 2-1 at 7/1 in the Irish Premier Division on Sunday evening at 5pm.
No pressure, lads.
And with Derry leading 1-0 as 77 minutes ticked by, this punter was staring at a heartbreaking fall at the final hurdle in this 42,900/1 shot. But two in three minutes, an own goal from Colm Horgan and then Roberto Lopes’ second goal of the season turned it around and brought in the fourth and final leg of a fantastic bet.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, this shop punter qualified for 10% acca boost, meaning the final payout jumped up to €47,189 return.
Just an idea, but maybe they should shutdown football again, Paddy’s had enough for a while.
Who’s on the move this summer? Get the latest odds at PaddyPower.com