Home of football statistics and historyAfter Liverpool’s unexpected quarter-final elimination, newly-crowned Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen are the leading candidates in gambling online on football to hoist the Europa League crown this season.
Sevilla’s bottom-place finish in their Champions League group means the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, will crown a new champion on May 22, with four sides gearing up for the upcoming semi-finals.
The first set of semi-final fixtures comes in the first week of May.
In addition to Leverkusen, Atalanta, Marseille and Roma are the remaining contenders, with an all-Italian final on the cards.
Xabi Alonso’s unrelenting side showed no mercy to last season’s Europa Conference League winners, West Ham United, to set up a last-four tie against Roma.
The season was almost lost for the Stadio Olimpico outfit in mid-January when the appointment of Daniele De Rossi as Jose Mourinho’s successor turned the club’s fortunes.
AC Milan fell victim to the Giallorossi’s renaissance under their former captain in the quarter-finals, resulting in Roma’s third consecutive appearance in a major European semi-final.
Serie A entertainers Atalanta have joined their domestic rivals in the last four with a stunning 3-1 aggregate victory against Liverpool, booking a semi-final date against Marseille.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Roma
Whether it’s fate or a mere chance, Leverkusen and Roma go head-to-head in the Europa League semi-finals for the second season running, though the circumstances are different.
Mourinho’s tactical ingenuity and defensive-minded football frustrated the Germans in last season’s semis as the Giallorossi progressed into the final as 1-0 aggregate winners.
However, the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ is no longer in charge of the Italian giants, while Leverkusen played down their tag as ‘Neverkusen’ with a scintillating Bundesliga triumph.
Not only have Alonso’s men brought ‘Deutsche Meisterschale’ to the BayArena for the first time and reached the DFB-Pokal final, but they are the only side in Europe’s top-five leagues yet to lose this season.
Cracking Leverkusen’s aura of invincibility has proved an unbearable task for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, among others, highlighting the size of the test awaiting Roma in early May.
Last season’s beaten finalists will not shy away from the challenge, bidding to become the first Italian team to win the trophy in the Europa League era.
Despite their illustrious revival under De Rossi, they head into this tie as underdogs, a predetermined tag they defied in both previous knockout contests against Brighton & Hove Albion and Milan.
But as the old saying goes – lightning never strikes twice. Leverkusen are enjoying a fairytale campaign. Capping it off with a treble would be the only appropriate reward.
Prediction: Bayer Leverkusen to reach the final.
Atalanta vs Marseille
Roma’s chances of bettering Leverkusen are slim, but Atalanta fans can realistically hope to see their side in a major European final for the first time.
Veteran coach Gian Piero Gasperini deserves a medal for turning the Bergamo minnows into a respectable team both in Serie A and Europe, elevating La Dea to a level few could have imagined.
A memorable 3-0 win at Anfield perhaps best describes Atalanta’s meteoric rise under the 66-year-old, resulting in their first-ever appearance in the UEFA semi-finals.
With Teun Koopmeiners pulling the strings in the midfield and Gianluca Scamacca leading the line, the Italians have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in this season’s Europa League.
Gasperini will need his talismanic figures to remain concentrated as they take on experienced European campaigners Marseille in a season-defining tie for both sides.
Atalanta can still secure Champions League football through Serie A, but the Ligue 1 underachievers will throw everything they have at the Gewiss Stadium outfit amid a dismal league campaign.
Stranded in mid-table in France, Les Olympiens endeavour to reach the Europa League title-decider for the fourth time, last achieving this feat in 2017/18.
Jean-Louis Gasset is the man in charge. After Marcelino García Toral and Gennaro Gattuso failed to live up to expectations at the Stade Velodrome earlier this season, it’s up to the 70-year-old to pick up the slack.
However, Marseille’s form crisis, stemming from a spate of injuries, puts Atalanta in the driver’s seat.
Prediction: Atalanta to reach the final.
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