Europa League final

United come against the Europa League king

… and as the old saying goes: they best not miss. We’re in Gdansk for Villareal v Manchester United, The Europa League final and a chance for both clubs to put a real shine on their positive seasons.

For Manchester United, this will be their eight major European final and only Liverpool have made more final appearances in British football with 14. United have won five of those finals and have a real hunger and desire to make this one count. Interestingly, both their European defeats came against Spanish opposition with Barcelona toppling them in the Champions League finals of 2008/09 and 2010/112.

Contrastingly, this is Villareal’s very first European Final. No less than 11 different Spanish sides have reached European finals and their manager Unai Emery is somewhat of a Europa League expert. He won this trophy three times in a row when managing Sevilla.

He knows what he’s doing and we can expect a very precise tactical display from his side. Villareal finished seventh in La Liga, outside the European qualification berths so this final represents their only hope of a place in the Champions League next season.

That is a huge motivating factor for Unai Emery’s side and this is what makes them a tricky opponent for a side which seems to bottle it under pressure. This is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first final as Manchester United manager. His side has reached no less than four semi finals, but never managed to drag themselves over the line into a final. He comes up against the king of the Europa League and the stakes couldn’t be higher. 

 A cagey past

Here’s one for you: this is the fifth time these sides will meet. The previous clashes you ask? Well, they all ended goalless in the Champions League. Yawn. Alarmingly, United have faced Villareal more times without scoring than any other opponent. History does favour Villareal in that aspect as keeping a clean sheet would be vital and, well, you can get odds of a 0-0 at full time priced at 8/1 or 9.00 at Casumo.

United’s away form has been sensational this season, and while Poland is a neutral venue, it does seem being away from Old Trafford bodes well for the Red Devils. They remained unbeaten domestically when playing away from home, becoming only the third club to do so in the Premier League

Lucky for United they afforded to rest several key players at the weekend and still emerged victorious with several good performances from the younger players. We expect the likes of Rashford, Fernandes and Cavani to step up on Wednesday and they could be the difference between the sides.  Bruno ended the Premier League season as United’s top scorer with 18 goals and top assistor with 12 goals and his winning mentality has often lifted his side this season. You can back him to score the winning goal in a 0-1 United victory at 18/1 or 19.00.

Predicting a cup final is always near impossible. At times United have been brilliant, but equally they also have totally switched off. Their inconsistencies may cost them against an experienced manager like Unai Emery. Villareal’s 10 La Liga defeats show a side who are not the finished product, but cup finals are cup finals and form and theory often go out of the window.

We do expect under 1.5 goals though, priced at 21/10 or 3/1 so we feel one goal will suffice – the key is guessing who will get that glorious goal… 

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