Malmo FF vs Midtjylland Predictions

This is one of the toughest ties to call in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League. Malmo can be backed at around 10/11 to win on the night but it is the Danes who most bookies have as the slight favourites to progress over two legs. Midtjylland will certainly feel as though any form of result this Thursday will leave them in the box seat heading into the 2nd Leg.

The fact this is a local derby of sorts only adds to the intrigue as the Danish and Swedish champions face off. Both sides have already dropped out of the Champions League but Europa League group stage football would be a decent consolation prize. That said Malmo will still be bitterly disappointed to have lost to Vidi of Hungary on away goals in the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round having come through a seemingly tougher tie against Cluj to reach it.

Midtjylland by contrast fell at the first hurdle in that competition, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Astana. They easily beat The New Saints as they dropped into the Europa League to set up this tie as both teams aim to extend their European adventures into the depths of the Scandinavian winter.

It’s a tough one to call with the teams seemingly very evenly matched. It’s certainly hard to see Malmo losing with home advantage. They are yet to taste defeat in 12 matches under new coach Uwe Rosler in all competitions with the German doing a great job of getting their season back on track. They’ve managed to climb the Swedish Allsvenskan standings and now look capable of pushing for Europe after a nightmare start to their title defence left them languishing in the bottom half.

The Danish League by contrast runs through the winter so it is only 6 games old and Midtjylland have made a solid rather than spectacular start with 11 points from 6 games. They do seem to have recovered from a shaky opening to the season though and are unbeaten in 7 matches heading into this tie.

It’s a clash which has the potential to be very tight and follow a similar path to Malmo’s Champions League tie with Vidi which saw both legs drawn. Indeed all of their last three European matches have ended all square and with both teams here on decent unbeaten streaks and looking evenly matched, going for the Draw appeals in the Full-Time Result market.