Sanchez guides Barcelona to victory in Leverkusen

Soccer Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - Leverkusen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alexis Sanchez picked a wonderful time to bag the first couple Champions League goals of his career as he scored twice for Barcelona in a comfortable 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

Sanchez went through the entire group stage without getting on the score sheet, but his two goals at the BayArena on Tuesday may have sealed a spot for Barcelona in the quarterfinals of Europe's most prestigious club tournament.

Barcelona also picked up a late goal from talisman Lionel Messi to put the win beyond any doubt, while Bayer Leverkusen was given a glimmer of hope to progress to the next round with Michal Kadlec's second-half header.

The Catalans dictated much of the play in the opening period but only claimed one goal for their efforts. It came through Sanchez four minutes before the halftime whistle.

The Chilean winger latched on to a through ball from Messi in the 41st minute and calmly slipped a shot past an on-rushing Bernd Leno that trickled into the back of the net.

Bayer Leverkusen came out in the second half rejuvenated and responded by grabbing an equalizer seven minutes after the restart.

Vedran Corluka, on loan from Tottenham, helped the home side take advantage of Barcelona's height deficiency in the back line, chipping a cross to the back post where it was met by Kadlec. The Czech Republic stalwart nodded his effort back across goal, past Victor Valdes and into the far side of the net to level the score.

The two sides were not even for long. Barcelona responded in champion fashion three minutes later with Sanchez notching his second goal of the game.

Cesc Fabregas threaded the needle with a brilliant pass to split the Leverkusen defense and find Sanchez. The 23-year-old made no mistake when he was through on goal as he skipped past Leno and finished into the empty net.

Gonzalo Castro nearly equalized for Leverkusen in the 64th minute when he broke free on the left side of the box and snapped a shot toward goal, but his effort struck the base of the far post and was cleared by the Barcelona defense.

Barcelona struck the woodwork as well as Messi nearly gave the visitors a third goal. The Argentine star beat two defenders to penetrate the right side of the penalty area and quickly chipped a sly shot over Leno, but it hit the side of the post and bounced back into the arms of the German 'keeper.

Messi eventually wrapped up the affair for Barcelona with his seventh Champions League goal of the season.

The Argentine started the move by sending a through ball to Dani Alves on the right flank. The Brazilian could have gone it alone but instead played a square ball through traffic back to Messi, who finished the scoring chance by redirecting the low cross into the net with an outstretched leg.

The reigning European champions now look well on their way to advancing to the quarterfinals as they take a 3-1 lead back to Spain.

Barcelona's three away goals mean that Leverkusen must claim a three-goal win at Camp Nou, a seemingly insurmountable task.

The two sides will play the return leg in Barcelona on March 7th.

Lyon 1, APOEL 0

Lyon, France - Lyon resumed its Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win over APOEL at the Stade de Gerland on Tuesday.

Alexandre Lacazette scored the lone goal of the match early in the second half, guiding the French club to a one-goal advantage at the midway point of the two-legged affair

APOEL goalkeeper Dionisis Chiotis was called into action often throughout the opening 45 minutes as the French side peppered the Greek stopper with a flurry of shots. Lyon failed to break through by halftime though, as the two sides went into the break scoreless.

Lyon finally put one past Chiotis and grabbed the lead in the 58th minute. Lacazette collected the ball on the left side of the box and danced inside past a couple of defenders. The French youngster unleashed a shot that took a deflection on its way past Chiotis and into the roof of the net.

Despite picking up the victory, Remi Garde's men will feel slightly disappointed that they did not further capitalize on their vast amount of scoring chances as its one-goal lead sets up a dangerous second leg in a tough environment.

Lyon will travel to Nicosia, Cyprus for the replay at GSP Stadium on March 7th.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

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