Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
In The Mixer is FST’s weekly column where we catch up with seven experts in football betting and get their opinion on the hot topic of the week.
Continental action returns to the football calendar this week as the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League all continue.
This week, our experts turn their attentions to the Europa League and Europa Conference League round of 32 ties, with each giving their best bet for Thursday to make a massive x/1 acca!
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* Due to the same fixture being selected, I have omitted James Milton’s tip in favour of Roma to win to nil, tipped by Aaron Rogan.
James Milton
Sports journalist at Racing Post
I like the look of under 1.5 goals at around 2-1 in Roma’s Europa League first leg at home to Real Sociedad.
When Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United won the Europa League in 2016-17, eight of their nine knockout games had under 2.5 goals in 90 minutes and Mourinho’s Roma are unlikely to take a gung-ho approach.
They lost 1-0 at Salzburg in the first leg of their previous Europa League tie but won six of their first seven games at home in 2023, all by a 1-0 or 2-0 margin, and six of Real Sociedad’s last nine matches have finished with under 1.5 goals.
Chris Rivers
Sports journalist at Racing Post
Lech Poznan have enjoyed plenty of success at home in the Europa Conference League, winning three of their four assignments, including putting tournament favourites Villareal to the sword in the group stages.
Having seen off Bodo/Glimt in the playoff round, the Poles have been handed a very winnable last-16 tie against Djurgarden and look well-priced at just shy of evens to win the home leg.
The Swedes have just emerged from winter hibernation and their squad has undergone a few changes since the group stages, when they won two of their three away games. Lech warmed up for this clash with a 5-0 win and that level of firepower spells trouble for a Djurgarden backline that lost top defence Hjalmar Ekdal in January.
Matthew Ireland
Sports journalist at Racing Post
Juventus appear to have been spurred on by the 15-point deduction handed down to them by the Italian Football Association, winning six of their last eight games in all competitions.
The Turin giants would be second in Serie A – albeit a distant one – were it not for that punishment. And because of their deduction, winning the Europa League is probably their best shot at securing Champions League football next season, so I expect them to throw everything at attempting to win it.
Round-of-16 opponents Freiburg are a solid unit but they don’t possess the sort of star quality Juve do and quotes of around 7-10 look perfectly agreeable.
Alex Wrigley
Sports editor at Free Super Tips
Union Berlin look great value to continue their fantastic season against Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday after knocking Ajax out of the competition in the last round.
The hosts’ Bundesliga title challenge took a hit as they lost to Bayern Munich at the end of February but they have won eight of their 12 competitive games since the winter break and the Belgian underdogs have suffered heavy defeats to Standard Liege and Westerlo recently.
Aaron Rogan
Sports journalist at Free Super Tips
Roma head into their first leg clash with Real Sociedad having impressed at home in 2023. They’ve won six of their seven home games since the turn of the year, keeping a clean sheet in each of those wins.
Meanwhile, Real Sociedad have won just once across their last six games heading into Thursday’s encounter. The Spaniards have failed to score in three of their last four away trips and they have hit a rough patch of form at an awful time.
Mourinho has already led Roma to a European trophy and they look well placed to take a first-leg lead. The Giallorossi are good value for a victory, but take the extra boost of a Roma win to nil at 9/4.
Rob Eddy
Sports editor at ICS
Slovan Bratislava look tempting at around 7-2 to win at Basel as these two sides lock horns again in the Europa Conference League round of 16, having got the better of their Swiss opponents in the group stages.
The Slovakian giants only bettered Basel to finish top of Group H thanks to a superior head to head record between the two sides, which saw Slovan record a 2-0 success at St. Jakob-Park on matchday three, before the pair played out a 3-3 draw back in Slovakia.
Although the stats from the clash in Switzerland lean towards the hosts, the scoreline does not and the two matches showed Bratislava can compete with Basel. They should also head into the clash full of confidence having enjoyed a 4-1 win on Saturday, although the safety net of Draw No Bet could tempt the more safety conscious at 12-5.
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