Manchester United +170 Favorites to Win Europa League Ahead of Quarterfinals

• The last eight of the UEFA Europa League 2019/20 has finally been decided
• Manchester United have been installed as favorites at +170 with Inter next at +350
• We’ll take a look at all eight teams and try and identify the value bets

The final eight of the 2019/20 Europa League has finally been decided, with the round-of-16 finally being concluded this week. Given the timing of the shutdown of European soccer, some ties were finalized over two legs, as originally planned, but two were unstarted and so decided over a single leg; Inter and Sevilla both qualifying by virtue of wins in one-off ties in Germany.

Manchester United are favorites in the Europa League odds, but we’ll look at the quarterfinals and see if we can find some good value bets going forward.

Europa League Winners 2019/20 Odds

Odds taken on Aug 7.

All the quarterfinals are taking place in neutral stadiums in Germany and are one-offs, which will be decided on the day by extra-time and penalties if necessary. But, while it will be a Europa League unlike any other, the prize remains the same and comes with a place in next season’s Champions League for the winners.

😎 The quarter-finals are set!

🤔 Who will reach the last 4?#UEL pic.twitter.com/1NjZwCdYYU

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) August 6, 2020

Lukaku and Eriksen on Target

In quarterfinal 1, Inter Milan plays Bayer Leverkusen in Dusseldorf, Germany on Monday 10 August, KO 4:00 pm EST, with the Italians starting the day as second-favorites for the competition. Inter was one of the two teams to qualify for the last eight via a single-leg tie, and it was with considerable ease that they beat Getafe on the neutral ground of Gelsenkirchen, goals coming from Romelu Lukaku and Christian Eriksen.  Their average Europa League odds have shortened from +533 to +339 with the win.

Leverkusen made it through by comfortably beating Rangers 4-1 over two legs, but will face a very different task against an Inter side who have lost just a single game since the restart and look well equipped to go all the way in this competition.

Success Already for Copenhagen

Quarterfinal 2 matches up Manchester United with FC Copenhagen in Cologne, a game that’s also being played on Monday, August 10, KO 4:00 pm EST, with the favorites coming up against the competition’s outsiders. United qualified for the quarters with ease – beating Austrian minnows LASK 7-1 on aggregate – but have found consistency hard to come by since the restart, with a mix of fine wins and poor performances.

Copenhagen will regard qualification for the last eight as success in its own right but will have gained huge belief from their emphatic 4-1 on aggregate win over Turkish side İstanbul Başakşehir. In a single tie, they could make life tricky for the Red Devils, and maybe extra-time beckons in his one, but Solskjaer’s men will be seeing this as a chance for silverware.

Massive Clash in Duisburg

In quarterfinal 3, which takes place on Tuesday, August 11, KO 4:00 pm EST in Duisburg, Wolves play Sevilla, with the English Premier League team qualifying for the last eight by virtue of a narrow 2-1 aggregate win over Olympiacos of Greece.  While Wolves are only listed as fifth favorites, Nuno Espírito Santo has molded them into a talented competitive outfit and they’re capable of overturning Sevilla, who themselves are in a fine run of form – six wins and a draw in their last seven games. The most recent of those seven was the midweek win over Roma in Duisburg in their one-off clash.

This quarterfinal will be one to watch and is on a knife-edge, with the winners looking likely to play Manchester United in the semi-final.

While it will be a Europa League unlike any other, the prize remains the same and comes with a place in next season’s Champions League for the winners

Underdogs Meet in Gelsenkirchen

Quarterfinal 4, Shakhtar Donetsk vs FC Basel in Gelsenkirchen, will run simultaneously to QF3, and pitches together two of the least fancied teams left in the competition. Both will deem a quarterfinal place as a degree of success, regardless of progressing any further, but one will take its place in the semifinal against the winners of Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen.

Both teams qualified for the last eight by emphatically beating German teams – Shakhtar winning against Wolfsburg 5-1 on aggregate, Basel 4-0 winners over Eintracht Frankfurt – and so are not to be underestimated, but either will do exceptionally well to make it all the way to the final given their relative inexperience at this level.

So, while lockdown has made soccer betting tricky, and has thrown up some big-price winners, the behind-closed-doors factor has tended to favor teams with quality in their ranks. For me, this suggests wins for Inter, Manchester United, Wolves, and Shakhtar, with Inter lining up against United in the final.

Pick: Inter to win the Europa League (+350)