My Europa League preview and predictions

03:56:00 Unknown 0 Comments

The UEFA Europa League –Round of the 32 first leg games will be played this week with the majority of the games on Thursday 18th at 18.00 and 20.05 GMT. This year’s competition really excites me with it featuring massive European names like Napoli, Valencia, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and the current holder Seville to name just a few.

The landscape of the competition has changed slightly over the past couple of years when UEFA altered the format to award the eventual winners with a place in the group stage of the UEFA champion’s league. With competition for places in the competition being so tuff, teams from nations such as England are taking it more seriously having been accused  in the past of not doing so. The Italians and Spanish just can’t understand the mentality of the English clubs towards the competition in recent years, with them viewing it often as a burden rather than a priority.

I’m tipping the teams from the stronger European leagues to have success in this tournament and in particular Napoli who are currently 2^nd in Serie A to be the eventual winners. My dark horse tip is the 33/1 shot Basel from Switzerland. They sit top of the Swiss super league and have good Europe pedigree with good experienced players at both Europa and Champions league level.

My ties of the round are

   Dortmund v Porto

   Florentine v Tottenham

   Villarreal v Napoli

I expect these 3 ties to be the pick of the bunch and the ones to watch. I’m sure they be plenty of goals and action in the round of 32. Check out my predictions for the 1^st leg games!