Europa League - Betting Previews 13th March
Today, we got a Last 16 of Europa League and with no doubt we'll take a look on the most interesting ones . So let's see what can we expect tonight...
Sevilla vs Betis
Because of the draw two Spanish teams will meet in the eight-finals, and to make it all more interesting, those are two city rivals whose matches are always full of emotions. Sevilla stands much better in La Lige and occupies seventh place, which is very close to positions that lead in the Europa League next season, while Betis is nailed to the bottom of table and will need a real miracle to avoid relegation.
Sevilla is again in good shape and as a result of good games came the series of six matches without a defeat, or even better, four consecutive victories. They firstly drew two times, with Valencia in the championship and Maribor in the Europa League, which was followed by victories, three in the championship and one over Maribor in the second leg of Europa League sixteen-finals. We need to stress in particular the victory over Real Sociedad, although are equally valuable and away victories over Rayo Vallecano and Almeria. We have to emphasize the match against Almeria as they were quite weakened, and coach Emery had decided to rest the team’s best players Rakitic, who entered latter from the bench.
Moreno and Fazio couldn’t play because of yellow cards, but Emery has solved all that changing positions of several players. Now the strongest available team goes on the pitch and it will be similar to one that played against Real Sociedad.
Betis plays a little better lately, but it is still not enough to move from the bottom of La Liga. They had a huge point backlog and a long series of defeats, so for the salvation they will need an equally long positive series. For now they have two consecutive matches with a defeat and three in total, if we the count the victory over Rubin from the rematch of the sixteenth-finals of the Europa League. Only few hoped that they will pass in the eight-finals, especially after they played only 1-1 with Rubin at home. In the rematch it seemed that they were playing in spite of all prognosis and had won with a mixed team by 2-0, although are still waiting for their first visiting victory in La Liga.
When these two city rivals play there is no place for tactics and this relates in particular to Seville, who will attack with all its might from the first minute. They will certainly score a goal and considering that Betis also scores goals lately, we will see more than a couple of them.
Pick: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.70 on medium stake 6/10
Juventus – AC Fiorentina
Here we have an Italian duel within the 1/8 finals of the European League which is played between the currently leading team in Serie A Juventus and the fourth Fiorentina. But what is particularly interesting is that these two teams have also met last weekend in the championship, when Juventus celebrated with 1-0 in their Olimpico, while they also experienced their only defeat of the season in Florence in the autumn part of the season.
Of course that coach Conte’s players are now the absolute favourites for placement into the quarter-finals of the European league, but they must prove this on the field, especially in this first match that they play on their Olimpico. Otherwise, they had no problems in the previous round of this competition when they defeated the Turkish Trabzonspor, celebrating with 2-0 in both matches, which has at least partially washed away the bitter taste after their elimination from the Italian Cup by Roma, while they also failed to pass in the group stage in the Champions League champions in the end of last year.
We should also mention that Conte will not be able to count on the injured striker Vucinic and midfielder Pepe on Thursday night, as well as the suspended striker Quagliarella.
Probable lineups Juventus: Buffon – Ogbonna, Bonucci, Caceres – Isla, Padoin, Pirlo, Marchisio, Peluso – Osvaldo, Giovinco
Unlike Juventus, Fiorentina is welcoming this first match in the 1/8 finals of the European League in quite a bad mood, considering that they won only one point in the last three rounds of Serie A, and it was away at Parma. On the other hand, they were defeated at home by two big rivals Inter and Lazio and away against Juventus, so that their backlog behind the third-ranked Napoli is now increased to as much as 10 points. All this tells us that they will probably again remain without Champions League, so it is expected that they will at least focus on preserving the fourth position, which leads to the European League.
In addition, coach Montella’s players have also qualified in the finals of the Italian Cup, where they are expecting a clash with Napoli, while they certainly will not surrender in advance in these two matches with Juventus. As for the situation with their squad, only the injured defender Hegazy and strikers Rossi and Rebic are still out of action for this match.
Probable lineups AC Fiorentina: Neto – Tomovic, Roncaglia, Compper, Pasqual – Ambrosini, Valero – Joaquin, Fernandez, Ilicic – Matri
Regardless of the fact that both teams will probably experience a lot of changes compared to their recent championship duel, Juventus is still valid for a big favourite, especially in this first match, which is played at home.
Pick: Asian Handicap -1 Juventus @ 1.60 also on medium stake 6/10
Basel vs Salzburg
With FC Basel reaching the semi-finals last year by knocking out Tottenham Hotspur on Penalties they are once again are travelling strong in this years Europa League.
They entered the round of 32 after being knocked out the Champions League, however during their Champions League campaign, the Swiss giants record a famous win against Chelsea on their travels. Into the round of 32 and FC Basel defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv with a convincing 3-0 drubbing at home.
But now they face Salzburg who sit along side Tottenham as the highest scorers in the competition. Salzburg demolished group C totalling 18 points and then faced Ajax in the round of 32. Salzburg continued their scoring frenzy against Ajax, shocking the Dutch at home with a 3-0 victory and defeating them again at home with a 3-1 score line.
FC Salzburg are the hot seat for progression again if they produce this attacking flair for another round.
Pick: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.57 on medium high stake 8/10
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Valencia
The Bulgarians are on fine form in their domestic and Europa League campaign, they stratched a lots of necks coming top of group B defeating their strongest opponents, PSV and Dinamo Zagreb on their group run.
Into the round of 32 they faced Lazio, which again would seem as very tough test for the Bulgarians, but Ludogorets represented their power again beating Lazio at the Stadio Olympico 1-0 and into the second leg they drew 3-3. Ludogorets are also on form in the Bulgarian Premier League, currently top of the league with a one-point margin over Lovech and they also pose a five game unbeaten run.
Valencia will travel to the Ludogorets Arena that is certain to conjure up a hostile environment. The Spanish side have felt a small dip in form as of late, failing to find a win in three games and losing to relegation threatened Rayo Vallecano.
A tough task for Valencia, but their away record is better than their home, however with Ludogorets producing a threat in every Europa League game they play, this task will prove to be the ever more difficult.
Pick: Ludogorets Razgrad AH +0.25 @ 2.08 on medium small stake 5/10
AZ Alkmaar vs Anzi Makhachkala
AZ Alkmaar hosts their round 16 match on great European and league form. In the Eredivise they have scored eight in their last two, demolishing Heracles and RKC Waalwijk 4-0 each.
The Dutch side are also unbeaten in their last eight European games. The reds qualified top of their group, narrowly coming 1st on goal difference fighting off PAOK. Slovan Liberec were their next challengers, and AZ came out victorious in their 1st leg, defeating Liberec away from home 1-0. At home for the second leg, AZ needed to pull the tie back into their favour after going 1-0 down, the Dutch did save themselves by scoring late on to make it 1-1.
The Russians will now travel to the TATA Steel Stadion. In Europe the yellows shirts have been unpredictable and some how they came through in second place on eight points. Their form in the Russian League has only recently picked up, after beating Rubin Kazan, but Anji still sit at the foot of the Russian Premier League.
AZ Alkmaar will want revenge after losing to Anji 6-0 18 months ago.
Pick: AZ Alkmar @ 1.75 on medium stake 7/10
