EUROPA LEAGUE sponsors and broadcasters were rubbing their hands when Man Utd and Man City parachuted out of the Champions League and into the knockout stage of their tournament.
Both eased over the first hurdle while showing it wasn't their priority and I'd make sure team news is checked before they go back into action tonight.
United face Athletic Bilbao at Old Trafford and Man City visit Sporting Lisbon. Both look good games on paper and the opposition can't be treated lightly by either of the Manchester duo.
Reports suggest United will rest stars including Wayne Rooney while City will be pretty much at full strength.
So let's start with City who return to Lisbon after beating Porto there in the previous round. Roberto Mancini's men edged a win away then blew away the league leaders at the Etihad to progress 6-1 on aggregate.
Sporting trail Porto by 14 points after losing to lowly Vitoria Setubal at the weekend and City should be good enough to win this one.
Back them at a biggest 4-5 at firms including William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power.
Mario Balotelli is 11-2 favourite with William Hill and BetVictor to open the scoring days after being fined for breaking a curfew. It should be between him and Sergio Aguero who is 6-1 at William Hill.
United have lost three out of four at home in Europe this season but face a Bilbao side who have never won on seven visits to England.
Ajax won at Old Trafford in the previous round but the tie was really over so much depends on the side Ferguson puts out. If it's strong enough United should use home advantage to notch a narrow win but a side as weak as the one that faced Ajax could struggle.
Bilbao are well coached under Marcelo Bielsa and have a Spanish Cup Final against Barcelona to look forward to.
I reckon a best 8-15 on United with the likes of William Hill, BetVictor and Ladbrokes is too short. Bilbao are 7-1 with BetVictor and bet365 but this could be a draw at 16-5 with bet365.
The bet to take is both teams to score at 5-6 with the likes of Ladbrokes and bet365. United have netted in their last 15 matches while Bilbao have Spain international Fernando Llorente and wonderkid Iker Muniain in their ranks.
Llorente is 8-1 at Ladbrokes to score first while Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez are the United men to look at if they start. Both are 5-1 at BetVictor.
Elsewhere I like the look of Steve McClaren's FC Twente who tackle injury-hit Schalke at home. Twente won 6-2 at PSV at the weekend and are the Dutch league's highest scorers.
They have climbed to second in the table and confidence is high ahead of a meeting with the Germans who crucially will be without top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who was concussed while scoring for Holland against England recently.
Huntelaar single-handedly won Schalke a place in the last 16 with a hat-trick against Plzen and without him the Germans could struggle. Take Twente at 5-4 with Betfred and BetVictor.
Talking of PSV, they couldn't get it much tougher than a visit to Valencia. Aside from that 6-2 tanking by Twente they also lost 3-0 to Groningen.
However, they do pose an attacking threat having netted 15 goals in six games but also conceding 14 in that spell. Valencia are currently the best team in Spain behind Real Madrid and Barcelona so I can't see past them at 8-13 with William Hill, BetVictor and Ladbrokes. This could also be one for both teams to score.
The third Dutch team in action are AZ Alkmaar at home to Udinese. AZ lead the Dutch standings but will have to break down a tough Udinese defence that's conceded just one goal in five. This could be a draw at 12-5 with bet365 and under 2.5 goals.
Atletico Madrid should be too strong for Besiktas at home but are no bigger than 4-11 (various) while Hannover can avenge last season's loss to Standard Liege by knocking out the Belgians this time.
Hannover are much-improved and beat Bruges home and away in the last round. Bruges lead Standard by 10 points so the Germans could win at 9-5 with BetVictor if they can maintain those standards. A draw on the night at 23-10 with Betfred is more likely with the Germans then going through.
Last but no means least let's look at Metalist v Olympiakos. There's no doubt bags of money will be on the Ukraine side who have been impressive this season but who haven't been tested by a side of the Greeks' quality.
Metalist have lost just out of 21 league matches this season and are unbeaten in their 10 Europa League outings. They thumped Red Bull 8-1 in the last round but Olympiakos are much better although not the best travellers.
So the call here is a narrow Metalist win which would give the Greeks, who beat Arsenal, Dortmund and Marseille in their Champions League group, a chance of qualifying.
Recommendations
Man City
(4-5, various)
Twente
Twente to qualify
(8-5, Stan James)
In December 2020 we sadly 
