Twenty teams for ten places. There are plenty of free slots left to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League, a competition which underwent a major overhaul by UEFA last year following the creation of the Conference League. Play-off time is also on the cards in this competition: many of the participating teams have just been relegated from the Champions League after being eliminated in the third qualifying round. In any case, all twenty of them will have a kind of ‘lifeline’ should they come off worst in their respective double-headers: whoever loses the play-offs, in fact, will find themselves directly in the Conference rounds.
The scheduled challenges include a thrilling all-Scandinavian duel between Finland’s HJK and Denmark’s Silkeborg. HJK are off to a distant start, having already played two preliminaries, while Silkeborg are making their debut, having recently suffered their first defeat in the Superligaen. Qualification appears in the balance, and it cannot be ruled out that both will manage to score. Goals are also in sight in Zurich, where the hosts face the tricky Scots of Heart of Midlothian, and in the match between Dnipro-1 and AEK Larnaca: the Cypriots eliminated Partizan by surprise and have a good chance of avoiding defeat against the Ukrainians, whose adventure starts directly from the play-offs. Ferencvaros and Ludogorets, favourites over Shamrock Rovers and Zalgiris respectively, are likely to take advantage of the pitch factor: their victory is likely in a match with at least three goals in total.
Malmo and Fenerbahçe, engaged against Sivasspor and Austria Vienna, should also have no problems. Olympiacos and Sheriff Tiraspol are also likely to return with a positive result: both play the first leg away against Apollon Limassol and Pyunik Yerevan. There will be no shortage of goals in Gent-Omonia Nicosia.
Europa League: likely winners
Ferencvaros (in Ferencvaros-Shamrock Rovers, 6.30pm)
Olympiacos or draw (in Apollon Limassol-Olympiacos, 19:00)
Malmo (in Malmo-Sivasspor, 19:00)
Sheriff Tiraspol or draw (in Pyunik Yerevan-Sheriff Tiraspol, 19:00)
Ludogorets Razgrad (in Ludogorets Razgrad-Zalgiris, 19:45)
Fenerbahçe (in Austria Wien-Fenerbahçe, 21:00)
The matches with at least one goal per team
HJK-Silkeborg, 18:00
Zurich-Heart of Midlothian, 19:00
Dnipro-1-AEK Larnaca, 20:00
The matches with at least three goals in total
HJK-Silkeborg, 6pm
Ferencvaros-Shamrock Rovers, 18:30
Ludogorets Razgrad-Zalgiris, 19:45
Gent-Omonia Nicosia, 20:30
