Get our football experts’ best bets with six picks from tonight’s action in the Europa League playoffs, with a tasty tie between Barcelona and Napoli taking centre stage.
Let’s get right into our four selections on betPawa. Use our booking code 02FF8DC which auto-fills your slip.
📝 Previews
🏟 Barcelona vs Napoli
The so-called “Diego Maradona Derby” between two sides that the great man represented with distinction during his legendary career. Barca’s struggles at the start of this season have been well-documented, but they’re now back in the mix for a top-four finish and perhaps even more than that. Napoli is still firmly in the Italian Serie A title race themselves, with much of that owing to their miserly defence which has shipped just 17 goals in 25 domestic league outings. That trend doesn’t transfer across to their European action though where they conceded 10 times in six UEL group stage matches this term. Napoli performed well at the weekend to draw 1-1 with Inter and will pose plenty of threat to a Barça backline potentially deprived of the injured Ronald Araujo.
👉 TIP: Both teams to score
🏟 Borussia Dortmund vs Rangers
Dortmund is a heavy favourite to advance from this knockout UEL clash with Scottish giants Rangers. USA and BVB midfielder Giovanni Reyna, fascinatingly, is named after current Rangers manager Gio van Bronckhorst. The ‘Gers kept things tight in the group stages, conceding just five goals in six games, and they’ll look to set up and frustrate the Dortmund attack. They will also fancy their chances of getting on the score sheet though considering that Dortmund conceded five goals against Leverkusen at the weekend, two at Hoffenheim and two away to St Pauli in a recent German Cup match.
👉 TIP: Over 3.5 goals
🏟 Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb
2020 UEL winners Sevilla are again one of the four favourites to lift the trophy this season. Their home record is excellent, having only lost once all season at the Sanchez Pizjuan, and they have won 10 of their 15 home matches. Their task here is to get beyond a Dinamo Zagreb side in the midst of a competitive title race in Croatia, battling it out with Rijeka, Osijek and Hadjuk Split. That battle-hardened nature will stand them in good stead here and make for a highly-competitive tie, but the Spanish outfit will have too much quality in the end.
👉 TIP: Sevilla win & under 3.5 goals
🏟 Atalanta vs Olympiakos
Atalanta has managed draws with Inter, Juventus and Lazio recently, but they lost at home to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia and went down 2-1 at home to Cagliari. Gian Piero Gasperini’s team is a thrilling outfit to watch at times, but they have missed the flamboyance of Papu Gomez since his departure to Sevilla, and Josip Ilicic who has been struggling with his mental health. Main goal-getter Duvan Zapata is currently injured, and Atalanta has only scored multiple goals in three of their last nine games. They might have to grind this one out.
👉 TIP: Atalanta win & under 3.5 goals
🏟 RB Leipzig vs Real Sociedad
Leipzig will have been disappointed to fall out of the Champions League but it was always going to be a tough ask alongside PSG and Man City. Coupled with that, the club is still adjusting to life after Julian Nagelsmann and the loss of star trio Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate and Marcel Sabitzer. They have kept three clean sheets in their last five outings though. Sociedad started the LaLiga season in sparkling fashion, leading the way for some time, but now they face a stern battle to remain in the top six. One or both sides have failed to score in each of Real Sociedad’s last six matches, and 14 of their last 18 so we’re expecting a circumspect battle here.
👉 TIP: Under 2.5 goals
🏟 Porto vs Lazio
While Porto recently extended their unbeaten domestic run to 17 games in a 2-2 draw with Sporting (W16, D1), Lazio’s own recent fixture saw them claim a routine 3-0 win over Bologna. That result marked their third straight Serie A clean sheet, but their form in European competition is entirely more patchy. They claim a dismal 18% win rate in UEL knockout away games and a clean sheet looks unlikely here, but we fancy their chances of scoring against a Porto side that has just one clean sheet in their last eight across all competitions.
👉 TIP: Both teams to score
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