Europa League Betting – Best Round of 16 Picks

The Europa League will enter the Round of 16 today and fans will be treated to eight two-game series between domestic clubs looking to boost their continental resumes.

All eight games should provide decent viewing, but three matchups, in particular, stand out as interesting contests: Wolfsburg vs. Inter Milan, Fiorentina vs. AS Roma, and Villarreal vs. Sevilla.

I’ll set the stage for all three and give you my free picks, should wagering be your activity of choice on this fine morning.

Wolfsburg vs. Inter Milan | 2:00 PM Eastern

The first game in this series will be played in Germany. This will actually be the first time these two clubs have met, so there aren’t head-to-head trends to go on.

The last time Wolfsburg played against an Italian team was back in 2008 when they drew 2-2 against AC Milan in the UEFA Cup. All-time, Inter are 16-8-11 against German opposition, but have lost just once over the last six of those.

For this game, my pick isn’t for a winner, though. It’s for goals!

The game total is sitting at 2.5, yet both teams are known for attacking, both have players who can score, and (perhaps most importantly) both have plenty of weaknesses on defense.

As Inter manager Roberto Mancini said, “[Wolfsburg] are a very similar team to Napoli [whom Inter drew on the weekend], as they pass the ball well and have some very quick forwards who like to run into space. They leave the room to score goals too.”

My pick: over 2.5.

Fiorentina vs. AS Roma | 4:05 PM Eastern

These two teams are more than familiar to each other as they meet at least twice every year in Serie A. This season, they drew in Florence and then Fiorentina won (0-2) in Rome.

Roma are no longer battling for the Serie A title, and they have become a shell of their former selves – even according to manager Rudy Garcia.

“The team was poor and this was an ugly draw,” said Garcia after his team tied Chievo Verona on the weekend. “We could have played on for two or three hours and we still wouldn’t have been able to score. There are some defeats that are encouraging, and then there are draws that are worrying, and this is one of those worrying draws.”

Fiore are the better side here, especially playing at home.  I have them winning 1-0.

My pick: Fiore.

Villarreal vs. Sevilla | 4:05 PM Eastern

As with the game above, these two clubs play in the same domestic league (Spain) and meet twice a year.  Sevilla won the only game they’ve played this season, but five of the last six in the series have had at least three goals scored as a total.

Moreover, Sevilla games average nearly three goals per contest in La Liga, while Villarreal matches are just over 2.5.

Yet, the game total for this one is at just two. Again, my pick is the over.

My pick: over 2.

Enjoy the action!

(Photo credit: Ver en vivo En Directo (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/]. Photo has been cropped.)