with just four teams left, who will make it through to this year’s uefa europa league final at lyon’s groupama stadium in mid-may? arsenal, atletico madrid, marseille and red bull salzburg are the four sides left in the competition.
on thursday 26th april, arsenal entertain atletico madrid at the emirates stadium for the first leg of their semi-final. the same night, marseille and rb salzburg lock horns at the stade velodrome.
with our odds comparison and in-depth preview, we have the best betting odds, tips, predictions and more on both semi-finals.
the standout semi-final is the blockbuster tie between arsene wenger’s arsenal and diego simeone’s atletico madrid. with the first leg at the emirates on thursday, the gunners will be hoping to take a lead to madrid. the second leg takes place at the wanda metropolitano a week later.
these two teams have had different paths to the last four. arsenal beat the likes of red star belgrade, cologne and bate borisov to win europa league group h. the london outfit then beat ostersunds in the round of 32, before beating ac milan 5-1 on aggregate in the last 16. in the previous round, arsenal saw off russian outfit cska moscow over two legs to make it through to the semi-finals.
atletico madrid finished third behind roma and chelsea in their uefa champions league group to drop into the europa league this season. however, on the whole, simeone’s side have been very dominant in this competition. after easing past copenhagen and lokomotiv moscow in the early knockout rounds, los colchoneros narrowly beat iberian rivals sporting lisbon 2-1 on aggregate in the last eight.
this game would have made a fitting final as both sides are giants of the european game. however, the pair have never met in a competitive match before. being at home on thursday, arsenal are the slight 6/4 (coral) favourites with the bookies. meanwhile, the best betting odds you can get on atleti are 39/20 with unibet, while the draw is available at 12/5 at bet365.
getting anything at the wanda metropolitano will be a tall order for arsenal, so a positive result at home is a must for the gunners. this could be close, but we can see the home team edging it, so take a punt on coral’s top betting odds of 9/1 for the home team to run out 2-1 winners on the night, which would not be a bad result for either side.
also on thursday, rudi garcia’s marseille entertain marco rose’s rb salzburg at the stade velodrome for an intriguing looking first leg. before a ball has been kicked in this tie, the french side are the strong favourites to make it through. however, salzburg have made a habit of defying the odds in the europa league this season.
marseille looked dead and buried against red bull leipzig in the previous round, losing 2-0 on aggregate in the early stages of the second leg. after that, however, it was all about the phocians, who scored five times in a thriller at the velodrome. in the end, garcia’s men went through comfortably with a 5-3 aggregate win.
on their way to the last four of this year’s europa league, marseille have got stronger and stronger as the tournament has progressed. after scraping through in group i, the ligue 1 outfit eased past braga and athletic bilbao before beating leipzig in the last eight.
salzburg, meanwhile, have been one of the tournament’s surprise packages this term. despite dominating in austria for a number of seasons, the red bulls have not made an impact in europe for decades. however, after beating marseille to top spot in group i, salzburg have seen off real sociedad, borussia dortmund and lazio in the knockout rounds.
only one goal was scored in the group meetings between these two. salzburg beat marseille 1-0 in the red bull arena, with the game in france ending goalless in december.
marseille are the 8/11 favourites with bet365 to win the first leg on thursday. meanwhile, the best betting odds for a salzburg triumph are 54/13 at unibet, with the draw available at the best betting odds of 14/5 (betfair). this could be tight, but this time we can see marseille getting the better of salzburg.
the fact that arsenal and atleti meet in the semis will give the likes of marseille and salzburg hope. many had been wanting a gunners v los rojiblancos final, but only one of those will participate in may’s final in lyon.
the outsiders to lift the trophy are obviously marseille and salzburg, with the french side priced at odds of 4/1 with ladbrokes, while you can get the austrians at the tempting odds of 13/2 with unibet.
however, it’s difficult to see past either arsenal or atleti. if the gunners are to get their hands on the europa league trophy, a lot will depend on how they fare at the emirates on thursday night. a win on home soil will set them up nicely for the game in the spanish capital seven days later. bet365 are offering decent betting odds of 3/1 for the english side to win the tournament.
having said that, the madrid outfit will be extremely hard to stop, even if they do fall to a narrow defeat in the first leg of their semi. simeone’s side are difficult to breach and their attack is as deadly as anyone’s in europe. ultimately, therefore, we predict it will be the spanish team that lifts the trophy at 6/5 with ladbrokes.