Europa League Final Betting Tips: Can Inter Milan beat specialists Sevilla?
Published:
Odds and preview for the Europa League final
We’re down to the final two teams in this season’s Europa League, with serial winners Sevilla up against Inter Milan in Cologne.
Sevilla have impressed throughout the campaign, overcoming AS Roma in the Round of 16, Wolves in the quarter-finals and Manchester United in the semis to make the Europa showpiece.
As for Inter Milan, they’ve been involved in closely-fought battles with Getafe in the last 16, Bayer Leverkusen in the quarters before sweeping aside Shakhtar Donetsk in a 5-0 hammering in the semis.
After the impressive thrashing of their Ukrainian opponents in the semi-final, we’ve got Inter Milan as 4/7 favourites to lift the trophy, with the Italians 11/10 to win in 90 minutes.
Sevilla are on the hunt for a record sixth Europa League title, and you can find 11/8 on them lifting the title, with 13/5 on the Spaniards winning in 90 minutes.
Inter Milan were ruthless in the semis, and if you think they’ll dispatch Sevilla comfortably too, they’re 13/5 to Win to Nil. The Spaniards came from behind against Manchester United, and they’re 18/1 to win from behind in the final.
Romelu Lukaku is 7/2 to break the deadlock, while Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Sanchez are 15/8 and 14/5 to score anytime respectively.
After grabbing the winner in the semi-final, Luuk de Jong is 13/5 to score again here, with fellow semi-final scorer Suso a 7/2 shot to score anytime.
In recent years, Sevilla have become the Europa League specialists. They’ve won the tournament on each of their five previous final appearances.
They come into this year’s decider on the back of the longest unbeaten run across all competitions in the club’s history, winning 11 and drawing nine of their last 20 matches.
Their form is down to manager Julen Lopetegui, who encourages his side to play out from the back with no fear. Jules Koundé and Diego Carlos have been solid at the heart of the Sevilla back four, while having a keen eye for an attacking pass too.
Former Manchester City man Jesus Navas has reverted to the role of right-back for the Spanish side, and the instinct of defending appears to come to him naturally.
As for the on-loan Sergio Reguilón on the left, his perfect balance of attacking threat and defensive awareness shows just why he’s linked with so many of Europe’s top clubs this summer.
But they’ll face a totally different prospect against Inter Milan, with former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku having the season of his career.
The Belgian has scored 33 goals in all competitions this season, the most by an Inter player since Samuel Eto’o in the 2010/11 campaign. Those 33 goals include six in the competition so far, despite only playing 353 minutes.
He’s formed a formidable partnership up front with Lautaro Martinez, with the Argentinian adding 27 goals in all competitions of his own to their tally.
The Milan giants have won all five of their Europa League games so far this campaign, after finishing behind Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League group.
Both Lopetegui and Inter Milan head coach Antonio Conte are managing in their first major UEFA finals. Conte has a 77%-win percentage in his 13 Europa League games managed so far, with Lopetegui managing a 73%-win ratio from 11 matches.
Sevilla and Inter have both already qualified for next season’s Champions League through their league positions, so with just the silverware on the line, will it be Conte or Lopetegui that manages to guide their team to Europa League glory at the first time of trying?
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
