The last spots are up for grabs in the Europa League championship phase. The winners of the play-offs will earn a place in the competition itself, while the losers will be relegated to the Conference League, continuing their European adventure nonetheless. Panathinaikos will be looking to avoid what would be a second relegation: the Greeks, who have just signed former Milan player Calabria, eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk on penalties a week ago after two 0-0 draws, but before that they were knocked out by Scottish side Rangers in the preliminary round of Europe’s most important competition.
This time, at least on paper, the task is easier: the Athens club will face Turkish side Samsunspor, who are starting their campaign in the play-offs. Their excellent start to the league season – two wins out of two in the Super Lig for the men led by German coach Thomas Reis – bodes well for their trip to Athens, but Panathinaikos’ greater experience at this level will most likely be decisive.
Similarly, the Swedes of Malmo will try to wrap things up in the first leg: their elimination from the Champions League by Copenhagen does not seem to have left any lasting effects, as demonstrated by their resounding 4-0 victory over Halmstad in the Allsvenskan last weekend. Sigma Olomouc, which has not appeared on the continental stage for almost a decade, should not cause the Swedes too much trouble. Finally, we predict a possible upset by the Dutch side Utrecht: the Eredivisie club has taken out Sheriff and Servette in the previous two rounds, scoring a total of 12 goals, and the feeling is that they will have an easy time against the Croatians of Zrinjski Mostar.
Predictions for the other matches
The Danish side Midtjylland and the Portuguese side Braga should take a serious step towards qualification by beating the Finnish side KuPS and the Gibraltarian side Lincoln Red Imps respectively. There are pitfalls, but both are clear favorites and it would not be a surprise if they managed to achieve a comfortable victory.
Young Boys will have to contend with Slovan Bratislava’s desire for redemption after their sensational elimination from the Champions League preliminaries by Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty: we predict at least one goal per side in Slovakia. The match between Poland’s Lech Poznan and Belgium’s Genk is also likely to produce goals.
Europa League: possible winners
Malmo (in Malmo-Sigma Olomouc)
Utrecht (in Zrinjski Mostar-Utrecht)
Panathinaikos (in Panathinaikos-Samsunspor)
Matches with at least three goals in total
Midtjylland-KuPS
Lincoln Red Imps-Braga
Europa League: matches with at least one goal per team
Slovan Bratislava-Young Boys
Lech Poznan-Genk
Odds comparison
Utrecht’s victory is quoted at 1.70 on Lottomatica and 1.67 on Snai. The “Goal” sign in Slovan Bratislava-Young Boys is quoted at 1.57 on Goldbet and Lottomatica and 1.50 on Snai.
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