Having beaten the seemingly cursed Benfica side in last year’s Europa League final in Turin on penalties, Unai Emery’s Sevilla side now head to the National Stadium in Warsaw to defend their crown against Dnipro.
Myron Markevych’s Dnipro side have surpassed all expectations of them and they were very impressive in their semi-final win over Napoli, a side whom many had tipped to go on and win the trophy. They have certainly gone about their business the hard way having been forced to play the home matches in Kiev due to the current unrest in Ukraine and they have also survived a major injury crisis to knock out the likes of Ajax and Olympiacos. However, the Warriors of Light do have to thank their goalkeeper Denys Bonko who made a string of fine saves to deny Gonzalo Higuain on more than one occasion before Yehven Seleznyov scored the winner in the second leg.
Sevilla were much more comfortable in their semi-final win as they secured a 3-0 win at the Ramon Pizjuan in the first leg against Fiorentina before winning 2-0 in Florence. Emery’s outfit is packed with talent and they are a joy to watch going forwards with French striker Kevin Gameiro spearheading the attack.
These two sides have never met before in any competition, with Dnipro’s only other meeting with a Spanish side coming back in 2004 when they were beaten 2-1 by Real Zaragoza. However, it would be dangerous to write off this Dnipro side completely and Wednesday’s match looks set to be an exciting game.
Sevilla v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Betting Tips
- Sevilla to win – We fancy Sevilla to win the match in Warsaw inside 90 minutes and secure back to back Europa League wins, a feat they achieved in the mid-2000s when the competition was still known as the Uefa Cup. They are the top scorers in the competition and they have enough clever players to open up a resilient Dnipro side. Sevilla also have that big game experience and that will certainly be a big help with Emery’s side available at 8/15 with BetVictor to win.
- Over 2.5 goals – With Sevilla running in goals for fun at times during this season we fancy them to bag a few on Wednesday, however, on occasion they can be left short at the back and we see this being a relatively high scoring final. You can back there to be over 2.5 goals at 11/10 with Betfair which looks a great price.
- Sevilla to win 3-1 – As we said we fancy Sevilla to win and score a few goals given the attacking options they have. However, with the likes of in-demand winger Yevhen Konoplyanka in their side, the Ukrainian outfit have the ability to pose Sevilla problems and it wouldn’t be a great surprise if they scored with a 3-1 win to Sevilla looking a fair punt at 13/1 with Ladbrokes.
- Sevilla to win on penalties – If you don’t think that the Spaniards can do it in normal time then it may well be worth a punt on them to lift the trophy after triumphing on penalties, something which they have done on two out of their three wins in this competition. They can be backed to hold their nerve at 14/1 with BetVictor.