Alongside the UEFA Champions League round of 16 being wrapped up this week, Europe’s second-tier tournament will be going through the same stage on Thursday night as 16 teams go head-to-head with a spot in one of four quarter-finals up for grabs.
The first legs provided us with plenty of goals, drama, and suspense and the second legs are sure to follow this up with more of the same.
Read on as we pick out our best booking codes for the upcoming second legs:
Atalanta vs Sporting
Viktor Gyokeres has been phenomenal since his summer move to Sporting from Coventry City in the summer, with the Swede hitting the ground running for his new club. In his 37 appearances this season the striker has netted 33 goals, including five already in the UEFA Europa League.
Gyokeres has scored nine goals in his last 10 matches across all competitions and while he failed to score in the first encounter between these two sides, it’s hard to bet against one of Europe’s most in-form strikers scoring in the second leg. For this reason, we believe Gyokeres will get on the scoresheet in this one.
Viktor Gyokeres to score anytime, 3.00
Bayer Leverkusen vs Qarabag
Bayer Leverkusen avoided an embarrassing defeat in the opening leg of this tie that would have seen their 34-game unbeaten run come to an end in disappointing fashion.
Qarabag were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to striker Juninho’s assist for the first and fantastic piece of skill for the second, leaving Xabi Alonso looking to the bench for inspiration. His substitutes had a huge impact on the game as Florian Wirtz scored a delightful chip after just 12 minutes on the pitch to grab one goal back before Patrik Schick headed into the net in the 92nc minute to equalise and keep their unbeaten run alive.
Leverkusen got back to winning ways on the weekend as they beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-0, and they will enter into this second leg with their home crowd helping to push them on to victory.
While Qarabag admittedly made the first leg an extremely tough encounter for the Bundesliga leaders, Leverkusen’s quality ended up shining through and we expect this to be the case from minute one in this game. For this reason, we believe that Leverkusen will take the win in this one and qualify for the quarter-finals.
Bayer Leverkusen to qualify, 1.05
West Ham United vs Freiburg
West Ham United and Freiburg have already played each other three times in this year’s Europa League after they were both drawn in Group A earlier in the tournament and then against each other in the round of 16.
West Ham were victorious in both the group games as they finished top of the table, but Freiburg claimed the win in the first leg of this knockout tie with a 1-0 victory in Germany.
While the English side are now trailing heading into the second leg, they also hold the home advantage with the game set to take place at the London Stadium. West Ham have only lost three games at home in the entirety of this season thus far, with two of these coming against Manchester City and Arsenal. The Hammers were dominant in their home game between these two sides in the group stage, and we expect them to make the most of the home crowd’s support by not only getting back into the tie but earning qualification into the next round of the tournament.
West Ham United to win (90 minutes only), 1.78
Best Booking Codes:
6C8V6TM, 6C8V95H
