Whoever wins this year’s Europa League earns a Champions League place for next season, so the stakes are extremely high for the eight teams contesting the quarter-finals. All four ties are delicately poised as we enter the second leg, and there is plenty of value to be found at green listed bookmaker when betting on them. Here we run through each of the four games:
Man Utd v Anderlecht
Man Utd are the outright favourites (5/4 with Sky Bet and Betway) to win this competition and they are certainly the biggest club left standing. Jose Mourinho spent close to £200 million bolstering his squad in the summer and they should be capable of winning this game. Mourinho’s forwards were profligate in the first leg and it cost them: Utd were cruising at 1-0 but conceded a late equalizer and now have it all to do at Old Trafford. In Youri, Tielemans Anderlecht have a very dangerous player who is superb at opening up defences with a killer ball, and they will be a threat on the counter-attack, but Man Utd should get the job done here. They will be full of confidence after beating Premiership leaders Chelsea at the weekend and should beat Anderlecht in a relatively tight game. Man Utd to win and under 3.5 goals at 11/10 with Bet Stars looks a good option. At 5/4 Man Utd look a pretty good bet to win the Europa League outright as Mourinho is a master tactician and he really comes into his own in knockout competitions.
Besiktas v Lyon
Lyon are second favourites after knocking out Roma in the last round and beating Besiktas 2-1 in the first leg of this tie. But that away goal for Turkish league leaders Besiktas could prove crucial. Lyon have hardly set the world alight in Ligue 1 this season and are 23 points behind leaders Monaco and 20 points behind second-placed PSG. They will struggle to win this one in a Turkish cauldron of animosity where the atmosphere will be electric, and that fearsome crowd could inspire Besiktas to a victory. William Hill has 8/5 on a Besiktas win, which looks an interesting bet.
Celta Vigo v Genk
Genk have had an interesting route to this year’s quarter-final after they thrashed fellow Belgian side Gent in the last round. That came after Gent dumped Tottenham, one of the favourites for the tournament, out of the Europa League. They are no mugs and have goals in them, but Celta Vigo are the superior side and won a pulsating encounter 3-2 in Belgium in the first leg. You would expect another match full of goals here as Genk will be forced to attack Celta Vigo from the off in a bid to make up the deficit, and Celta Vigo can pick them off on the counter-attack. Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals looks like a good bet at 20/23 with Coral, and an even better option looks to be Celta Vigo to win and over 2.5 goals at 29/10 with Bet Stars.
Schalke 04 v Ajax
Ajax put in a very composed performance to beat Schalke 2-0 in the last round and will now be confident of progressing to the semis. They did not yield an away goal
and that two-goal cushion should be enough to see them through. Since that game Schalke lost 2-1 to the Bundesliga’s bottom side, Darmstadt, and confidence will be low among the players. Ajax +0.75 Asian handicap at 7/10 with Bet365 looks a decent option here because if Ajax loses it should not be by more than one goal, but they will be confident of getting a result.
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