The last four standing in this season’s Europa League come head to head in Thursday’s second legs, the prize; a place in the final in Lyon in May.
There will be nails bitten and nerves jangling in Madrid and Salzburg where visitors Arsenal and Marseille will aim to silence passionate home crowds; the Gunners with a daring smash and grab, Marseille by finishing a job already half done. It’s going to be a cracking two hours plus, and you can get a choice of the best football bets and have a great night of live football betting with SBOBET.
Atletico Madrid is the favourite to lift the title in Lyon, at odds of 1.85, with Marseille at 3.50, Arsenal 5.00 and Salzburg right out there at 15.00.
But there’s one last hurdle to jump before anyone can begin to make too many plans.
Atletico Madrid vs (1-1 on agg.) Arsenal
Many of the top football betting tips were adamant the eventual winner would come from this tie and, on the evidence of the first leg, they could well be right. Arsenal put on a passionate show of football, clearly trying to do all they could for outgoing boss, Arsene Wenger. They rained shots down on Jan Oblak, but the Atleti keeper was equal to the lot, until Alexandre Lacazette finally headed past the big Slovenian early in the second half.
Antoine Griezmann’s late equaliser was a dagger through the heart of Arsene, and the legendary coach admitted 1-1 is one of the worst results you could have against the best defence in Europe. Diego Simeone’s team is in second place in La Liga and with the tightest defence, conceding just 18 goals, and none at home in the last 11 games in all competitions. That’s why Arsene knows 1-1 is not good!
But he’s putting a brave face on it, saying that the clarity of the Gunners’ objective could be an advantage: “We know we have to go there and win the game or at least score a goal to qualify,” he says. “On that front, we know exactly what we have to do.” Arsenal did open up the Atleti defence in the first leg, on many occasions, and could have been two or three up before Griezmann’s late strike, but their wastefulness and Oblak’s brilliance made it a frustrating night.
Arsenal can take more heart from their display at Old Trafford on Sunday, losing to Manchester United, but dominating for big parts of the game. And attacking midfielder Alex Iwobi is hoping to be fit, shrugging off a hamstring niggle he felt at the weekend. Meanwhile, Madrid’s Sime Vrsalijko will be absent, having picked up two early yellows in the first leg in London.
But the Spaniards are confident. Take a look at the Atletico Madrid website and you’ll see plenty of stats to tell you why they believe they’re off to Lyon. Atleti have won seven of their last nine knockout ties with English teams, while the Gunners have failed to win on any of their last seven trips to Spain, the last being a 0-1 win against Real Madrid in 2006.
The Madrid side’s success is, of course, built on its phenomenal defence, but in Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Kevin Gameiro they have the firepower to blow a, sometimes shaky, Arsenal defence away. Laurent Koscielny will still be having nightmares, having fluffed his lines to let Griezmann in at the Emirates.
If you scour the football betting websites, you won’t get a lot of cheer for Arsene, and with SBOBET Simeone’s Atletico is as low as 1.32 to progress to the final with the Gunners at 3.38.
But this is another big part of Arsene’s goodbye to the Gunners; so they’ll give it one hell of a go.
Salzburg vs (0-2 on agg.) Olympique Marseille
You could excuse the optimistic Marseille fans for already planning a trip to France’s third largest city for the final. A two-goal lead, crucially with those away goals, has shifted the odds firmly in Rudi Garcia’s side’s favour.
Salzburg is a good side, and while, at 2.07, they are favourites to edge the second leg, I think this may just be a step too far for the Austrian league leaders. Former West Ham star Dimitri Payet was in scintillating form at the Stade Velodrome, opening up the Salzburg defence almost at will, and providing for both of his team’s scorers. Florian Thauvin stuck in the first, and he’s Marseille’s biggest threat. With 20 league goals he is outscored in Ligue 1 only by PSG’s Edinson Cavani, and the former Newcastle wide man is becoming hot property.
But the Red Bull Arena will be bouncing. The first leg setback halted a run of four consecutive wins for Marco Rose’s Salzburg, and in Munas Dabbur and Valon Berisha, the hosts have a potent dual threat, each with five tournament goals. And they have recent form of upsetting the Europa odds, overcoming a two goal first-leg deficit to Lazio by promptly thumping the Italian giants 4-1.
Don’t buy your final tickets just yet Marseille!
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
