While the Champions League often grabs the headlines, Europe’s second competition has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons; and this year the tournament has some of football’s most famous names, as always.
Atalanta lifted the 2024 Europa League in spectacular fashion with a 3-0 win over Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and that automatically qualified La Dea for the 2024/25 Champions League; and that’s another big incentive.
The Europa League 2024 betting odds have picked out six teams, two from England, two from Italy and two from the Basque region of Spain as the ones to beat, and they expect the winner to come from this group. Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United are the pre-tournament favourites. The Red Devils have made a sketchy start to their 2024/25 Premier League campaign, culminating in a 3-0 loss in a recent clash with Liverpool and they currently sit in 14th place in the early league table. But they do have some real quality in their side with centre back Lisandro Martinez and midfielders Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes providing the real star quality, but Manchester United do need to find a spark up front.
Tottenham Hotspur have made a steady start to their campaign, in contrast to their explosive opening ten games last term under new manager Ange Postecoglou, when they raced away at the top of the table. A decent second half of the campaign would have seen them in the Champions League but they fell away, and with four points from three games this season Spurs are already playing catch-up.
Italian capital city rivals Roma and Lazio are two more big names to keep an eye on, along with the Basque pairing of Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. Neither Sociedad nor Bilbao have made a fast start to their La Liga campaign, each with four points from four games and sitting just below half way in the league table, so that seems to be a theme with the fancied clubs. Lazio are fairing the best in eighth place in Serie A and Roma the worst, currently in 17th with just two points from three games.
So let’s take a look at the SBOTOP pick of three dark horses who might interrupt the elite in the pursuit of a prestigious piece of silverware.
Clubs which can topple the Big Six
Eintracht Frankfurt
The Eagles won the Europa League in 2022 and their fans will see them as big guns in this company, but they will need to upset the odds to make it deep in to the later stages of this season’s competition. Managed by Dino Toppmoller Frankfurt had a sixth placed finish last season and have started this one with a defeat to Borussia Dortmund followed by a home win over TSG Hoffenheim. Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush is a player to watch; he scored 12 last season and was on target in the win over TSG. Premier League club Nottingham Forest tried to sign the 25 year old on deadline day but he stayed with the Eagles, and that is good news for Toppmoller.
Olympique Lyonnais
After opening their Ligue 1 campaign with back to back defeats OL beat Strasbourg 4-3 last week to get their season up and running. And they are a team with big ambitions, having climbed from the bottom end of the league at Christmas to finish sixth on the last day. The club, dominant in the opening decade of the 21st century when they won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles, has been in disarray in recent years and their latest manager, Pierre Sage, is tasked with bringing stability and the success.
Captained by striker Alexandre Lacazette and with former FC Bayern star Corentin Tolisso controlling the midfield this is a team with plenty of quality and experience. Nemanja Matic anchors the midfield while Ainsley Maitland-Niles provides the creativity and, on the wing, the exciting Rayan Cherki is a real prospect. Alongside Lacazette, Lyon have pulled in more Premier League stardust in the shape of former Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha, on loan from Galatasaray. This is a team with plenty of big game players.
Galatasaray
It would be major Europa League 2024 news if the winner was to come from outside the big five leagues and the Turkish giants Galatasaray have the best chance. Managed by Orkan Buruk the Aslan Lions won the competitive Turkish Super Lig last term to make it back to back championships. This is a team which has pulled in some big names, Moroccan star Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea and Mauro Icardi who scored 26 goals last season.
And now Galatasaray have added Nigerian goal machine Victor Osimhen to their ranks, on loan from Napoli, and that makes them a huge threat to the establishment.
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