All Home Teams Are Favourites To Win

Published on April 7th, 2014 3:33 pm EST
What do the four home teams (Benfica, Juventus, Valencia, Sevilla) in the second leg matches of the Europa League quarter-finals all have in common? They are all favourites to win.

Here were the results of the first leg matches last week:

AZ Alkmaar 0-1 Benfica
Basel 3-0 Valencia
FC Porto 1-0 Sevilla
Lyon 0-1 Juventus

Benfica and Juventus are currently the two favourites to win Europa League and both are seen as having an easy time of things on Thursday.

Here are the current betting odds for all four of Thursday's matches:

Benfica, 1.36
Draw, 4.50
AZ Alkmaar, 9.00

Juventus, 1.30
Draw, 4.80
Lyon, 12.00

Valencia, 1.57
Draw, 3.80
Basel, 6.00

Sevilla, 1.85
Draw, 3.30
Porto, 4.50

As mentioned, Benfica and Juventus are both expected to easily win in front of their home fans. The Sevilla/Porto contest is expected to be quite close, as Sevilla is down 1-0 but will be playing at home.

In the case of Valencia/Basel, Basel is expected to sit back and play a defensive game on Thursday to protect their lead. Basel has no issue with losing as long as they keep the game close, which increases the chances of Valencia winning on Thursday.

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Here are the updated odds to win Europa League outright:

Juventus, 1.91
Benfica, 3.50
Porto, 7.50
Basel, 12.00
Sevilla, 17.00
Lyon, 51.00
AZ Alkmaar, 101.00
Valencia, 101.00

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