The Europa League third qualifying round gets underway on Thursday and several of Europe’s sleeping giants will be searching for a stress-free passage to the play-off round, where a place in the group stages will be at stake.
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool face Belarussian outfit FK Gomel, who set up the plum tie with the 2004/05 Champions League winners with a narrow win over FK Renova of Macedonia.
Attacking threats for Gomel include former BATE Borisov hitman Aleksandr Alumona and new signing Andrey Sherakow, who arrived from Minsk, though there is a very definite lack of big-match experience in the squad.
Unsurprisingly, Gomel are priced as 7/1 outsiders to take anything from their home leg against the Reds, with Rodgers’ men a near-certainty at 1/3 to take an advantage with them back to Anfield.
Elsewhere, another former Champions League winner, Inter Milan, will aim to move a step closer to qualification for the Europa League when they take on Hajduk Split.
The Croatian outfit’s finest moment in Europe came in the 1994/95 season, when they reached the quarter final of the Champions League, though recent years have been tinged with frustration, having finished as runner-up in the Prva Liga for the last four years.
They take on a team who topped their Champions League group last season only to be eliminated in the second round, and fail to produce the goods in Serie A, finishing a distant sixth and well out of the title race.
But Inter Milan’s hopes of staging a comeback in the upcoming season are high, and, at 4/11 to fit into place the first piece of the jigsaw and win this first leg clash, they are expected to have too much of Hajduk Split.
Meanwhile, La Liga side Athletic Bilbao should be far too strong for NK Slaven Belupo when the two sides meet for the first of two legs tomorrow evening. The Croats have a habit of starting games strongly in Europe, but will struggle in the Spanish heat.
Bilbao’s 1/10 price tells you all you need to know about this game, but a 10/1 price on a 5-0 win for the Spaniards represents extremely good value, as does a 6-0 scoreline, which is available at 16/1.
Further British interest at this stage of the competition is represented by Dundee United, who welcome Dynamo Moscow to Tannadice Park tomorrow evening, and who will rightly fancy their chances of defying their 10/3 price and taking a lead with them into the away leg.
Dynamo are available at 7/10 to escape with the win, but Peter Houston’s men will be feeling far from charitable, and a siege mentality from the hosts could force the Russians to settle for a draw, which is available at a rather generous 23/10.
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