Europa Odds: Celta Vigo Face a Battered Man U
Celta Vigo (+225) vs. Manchester United (+120), Draw (+230)
Manchester United will head to the Balaídos on Thursday, May 4th to take on Celta Vigo for the first leg of the Europa League semi-final.
Man U are the outright favorites to win the Europa League, so it’s no surprise that they enter the first leg as the favorite. But the Red Devils have had quite a few setbacks in the last few weeks.
Their star striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is out with a knee injury and will not play for the rest of the season. As is defender Marcos Rojo. Paul Pogba limped off the pitch in a recent match against Burnley, and while he’s expected to be fit for the Europa clash, there’s still some uncertainty.
And it doesn’t end there: Defenders Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are out at the moment, and while they’re expected to recover by May, they may not be at their best.
While the match-up between Manchester United and Celta Vigo appears pretty one-sided on paper, the mid-sized Spanish club has been known to cause upsets. This season, they’re one of the few teams to have beaten Barcelona (4-3), and managed to eliminate Real Madrid at the Copa del Rey (2-1, 2-2).
Their Europa run has seen them eliminate some key clubs like Shakhtar Donetsk and K.R.C Genk. They may be tenth in La Liga with some pretty dismal results, but they seem to do well when the stakes are high.
Without Ibrahimovic, Manchester United are a crippled side. In the Premier League, he’s been their only reliable goalscorer. He leads with 17 goals, and after him the figures drop into the single digits: Juan Mata (6), Marcus Rashford (5), Paul Pogba (4), Anthony Martial (4), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (4). However, in the Europa League, the goals are more evenly distributed: Ibra (5), Mkhitaryan (5), along with a handful of players each netting two goals.
United have shown they’re a tough side to beat this season, but their games at Europa have been far tougher than expected. They’ve routinely underperformed and have drawn against teams they should have easily beaten.
I think Celta Vigo have a decent chance of adding another upset to their season resume.
Pick: Celta Vigo (+225)
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
