Europa League odds currently have Manchester United as the 2/1 outright favourites* (betting odds taken from Betfair at 03:00 GMT on Thursday, 15th July 2020).
The Europa League will kick back into action on 5th August 2020.
The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals have already been made.
But before all that, the first order of business will be to settle the outstanding Round of 16 ties.
Europa League Winner Odds
Man Utd 2/1
Inter Milan 5/1
Bayer Leverkusen 6/1
Wolves 13/2
Sevilla 8/1
Shakhtar Donetsk 13/1
Getafe 16/1
Roma 16/1
Basel 25/1
Istanbul Baseksehir 50/1
Wolfsburg 66/1
Olympiakos 66/1
FC Copenhagen 80/1
Eintracht Frankfurt 275/1
Rangers 500/1
* (betting odds taken from Betfair at 03:00 GMT on Thursday, 15th July 2020)
Horse Racing betting at Betfair
British Interest
There is plenty of British interest left in the Europa League.
Manchester United, Wolves and Rangers are all facing second leg ties in the round of sixteen.
The Red Devils have a big foot in the door of the quarter-finals, while Wolves are finely balanced after tying their first leg against Olympiakos.
Rangers have a massive uphill task after losing heavily at home in their first leg against Bayer Leverkusen.
Outstanding Round of 16 ties
All eight of the round of sixteen ties need to be settled. Two of those, however, didn’t even manage to get the first leg of the tie completed.
So the Inter Milan v Getafe and Sevilla v Roma ties will be settled by just the one match played.
August 5th
Shakhtar Donetsk v Wolfsburg – Shakhtar lead 2-1
Copenhagen v Istanbul Basaksehir – Baskasehir lead 1-0
Man Utd v LASK – Man Utd lead 5-0
Inter Milan v Getafe – Single leg fixture
August 6th
Sevilla v Roma – Single leg fixture
Leverkusen v Rangers – Leverkusen lead 3-1
FC Basel v Frankfurt – Basel lead 3-0
Wolves v Olympiakos – Tie level at 1-1
Manchester United v LASK Europa League Odds
The Red Devils are in a commanding position to reach the next round.
They strolled to a 5-0 win in the first leg of their tie against LASK. So there is almost an insurmountable task ahead for their Austrian opponents.
This is actually LASK’s longest ever European campaign, but it looks as if it is about to come crashing down.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 13 UEFA Europa League home games, winning eleven of those.
The Red Devils are strong odds on favourites to win the second leg of this tie, to the tune of 2/7* (betting odds taken from Betfair at 03:00 GMT on Thursday, 15th July 2020).
United’s last three European home games have ended 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0.
Horse Racing betting at Betfair
Wolves v Olympiakos
Greek side Olympiakos eliminated Arsenal in the round of 32, winning on away goals after a 2-2 draw in the tie.
They are currently sitting level with more English Premier League opposition in the form of Wolves.
The tie is at 1-1, but the Wolves have that away goal in the bag.
So with home advantage to come, and with some good form behind them since returning from the enforced break, Wolves are favourites to prevail.
But Wolves are only narrow 20/23 favourites to win the second leg* (betting odds taken from Betfair at 03:00 GMT on Thursday, 15th July 2020).
So the bookies are not expecting the easiest of nights for Nuno’s men.
Olympiakos have never been past the Round of 16 in the Europa League.
Wolves, who are undergoing their first European campaign in almost 40 years, have prevailed on each of the three previous occasions when they had drawn the first leg of a knockout tie away from home.
Leverkusen v Rangers
It’s all uphill for Rangers here. They were heavily beaten and outplayed at Ibrox in the first leg, falling to a 3-1 loss.
So that’s a chunk of away goals they have given up to the Germans.
It’s fair to say that the Germans look to be in full control of this tie now.
They have had a slight advantage of having finished their domestic season as well, whereas Rangers didn’t. So they should, on paper, be sharper.
Leverkusen are 13/20 favourites to win the second leg* (betting odds taken from Betfair at 03:00 GMT on Thursday, 15th July 2020).
The Werkself have only lost three of their last sixteen European home games. They are unbeaten in seven home fixtures in the Europa League specifically.
Rangers started their Europa League campaign right back in the first qualifying round. It’s been a long journey.
Never before have they managed to recover a situation in a UEFA tie having lost the first leg at home. The Gers hold a W1 D5 L3 record on the road in the Europa League proper.
Quarter-final draw Europa League Odds
With Manchester United expected to comfortably finish their round of 16 tie, the Red Devils will be moving forward to meet either Basaksehir or FC Copenhagen.
The Turkish side have a narrow 1-0 advantage there from the first leg.
Wolves will get a tough draw in the quarter-finals if they were to see off the challenge of Olympiakos first.
They will meet the winner of the Sevilla v Roma round of sixteen tie.
Should Rangers overturn their big deficit against Leverkusen, they would meet Inter or Getafe in the quarters.
As for venues at the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Europa League, things have changed.
All of the ties will be settled in just one match, so the two-legged format has been scrapped because of the circumstances.
All of the fixtures from the quarter-finals onwards will be played in Germany. The final itself this season is going to be played at Cologne’s Stadion Koln.
Horse Racing betting at Betfair
Europa League Quarter Final Venues & Draw:
Stadion Köln in Cologne
MSV Arena in Duisburg
Dusseldorf Arena in Düsseldorf
Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen
Monday 10 August
LASK (AUT) / Manchester United (ENG) vs İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR) / Copenhagen (DEN)
Internazionale Milano (ITA) / Getafe (ESP) vs Rangers (SCO) / Leverkusen (GER)
Tuesday 11 August
Wolfsburg (GER) / Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) vs Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) / Basel (SUI)
Olympiacos (GRE) / Wolves (ENG) vs Sevilla (ESP) / Roma (ITA)
Semi-final draw
The way that the draw has fallen in the Europa League semi-finals, there is the possibility of a mouthwatering Wolves v Manchester United clash.
Will the two remaining English clubs get to meet for a place in the final?
Sunday 16 August
Olympiakos (GRE) / Wolves (ENG) / Sevilla (ESP) / Roma (ITA) vs LASK (AUT) / Manchester United (ENG) / İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR) / Copenhagen (DEN)
Monday 17 August
Internazionale Milano (ITA) / Getafe (ESP) / Rangers (SCO) / Leverkusen (GER) vs Wolfsburg (GER) / Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) / Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) / Basel (SUI)
