Europa League Last 16: Second Leg Betting Tips
The second legs of Thursday night’s round of 16 ties in the Europa League look set to produce more drama.
Last week the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio, Lyon and Rangers all won their away legs to take a major step towards qualifying for the quarter finals.
Bodo/Glimt were one of the few teams to make the most of their home advantage, blowing away Olympiakos to give themselves a great chance to continue their European adventure.
The Premier League’s Manchester United and Tottenham still have lots to do in their home legs, having failed to win on the road.
Meanwhile, the highest quality encounter is perfectly poised, with Roma travelling to Athletic Bilbao, protecting a 2-1 lead.
We have picked out four bets from these second legs, which can be combined in a four-way accumulator that will pay out at 23/1 if successful.
TIP 1 – ROMA DOUBLE CHANCE @ 17/20
Roma’s Eldor Shomurodov came off the bench to score the winning goal in stoppage time to give the Serie A club the advantage in this tie.
Bilbao finished second during the league phase and have been in good domestic form this season, with Ernesto Valverde’s side currently flying high in fourth place in La Liga.
Yet they have only won one of their last five games, drawing two and losing two, at a time when their opponents have found some real consistency under Claudio Ranieri.
Roma’s 1-0 win at Empoli over the weekend means that they have triumphed in each of their last six games across all competitions, and having already navigated tough away days at Spurs and Porto, they look equipped to avoid defeat again in the double chance market.
TIP 2 – OLYMPIAKOS AND BODO/GLIMT TO BOTH SCORE @ 17/20
The most comprehensive of the first leg victories was Bodo/Glimt’s 3-0 win against Olympiakos.
Now the Norwegians defend that sizable lead, which was achieved despite having only 48% of the possession in the first-leg.
While Olympiakos were in action in a 1-0 win against OFI over the weekend, Glimt are purely concentrating on the Europa League, with the Eliteserien not set to start until the end of March.
The visitors have scored in nine consecutive games in this competition and everything points to that run continuing against their Greek hosts.
TIP 3 – YOUSSEF EN-NESYRI TO SCORE ANYTIME FOR FENERBAHCE AGAINST RANGERS @ 33/20
Rangers pulled off a shock result in the first-leg, winning 3-1 at Fenerbahce at a time when they have been struggling domestically.
They went into that match off the back of a 2-1 home defeat by Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership, with caretaker manager Barry Ferguson tasked with turning around their form.
Such struggles will at least ensure that they pay respect to their opponents, who have a very dangerous attacker capable of turning this tie around.
Yousseff En-Nesyri failed to find the net in the first leg, but he had scored 20 goals in Fenerbahce’s previous 18 games and remains their most likely scorer.
TIP 4 – TOTTENHAM TO BEAT AZ ALKMAAR AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE @ 7/4
Tottenham’s season essentially rests on this second leg against AZ Alkmaar, who won 1-0 in the first match in the Netherlands.
The Dutch side could have won by a bigger margin, with former Spurs striker Troy Parrott noticeably looking more of a threat than the North Londoners’ attackers.
Tottenham could only draw 2-2 with Bournemouth in the Premier League match that followed and again they were lucky to not concede more goals, with their defence looking shaky.
Though the likes of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are back for Ange Postecoglou’s team, neither were match sharp and it will take time for them to rediscover their best form.
Spurs’ home record in this competition, which includes a 1-0 win against AZ during the league phase, suggests that they can get the victory they need, but their porous defence is likely to concede in the process.
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Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation