Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao: Falcao to separate Spanish teams
Published:2010 Europa League champions Atletico Madrid head into this season’s final as 11/8 favourites for victory in 90 minutes, and a second European title in three seasons.
Athletic Bilbao will be popular with punters at 2/1 however, considering their disposal of Manchester United in the knockout phase, and their aims to land the first trophy of a possible double.
Their upcoming Copa del Rey final with Barcelona means they will want to avoid extra-time here, and with no finals of this competition in its current format ending level, punters may deter from the 11/5 price about this outcome.
The two teams won each of their home fixtures against each other in league competition this season, making the clash on neutral ground appear all the more intriguing.
58 goals have been involved in their combined runs to this final, which should lead to immense interest in both teams scoring in this match at 4/6.
Radamel Falcao and Fernando Llorente will be well-backed as first scorer options meanwhile, as a game featuring these two players seems as though it almost has to reap goals.
Falcao, who hit a record-breaking 18 goals when winning last year’s tournament with Porto, is 5/1 favourite to score first, whilst Llorente is 11/2 to add to his seven seasonal European strikes with the opener.
It was Falcao who got the winner in last year’s Europa League final, and he could make the difference again here, making the 7/2 odds on Atletico winning a match where both teams score very tempting.
The 2010 champions are also an appealing prospect to win a game featuring three or more goals at 10/3, and could be worth investment at 6/4 to score two or three times.
Due to the lethal strike rate of each side’s leading forwards in this game too, Atletico forward Adrian is afforded a big 6/1 price to score first.
The Spaniard has hit 19 goals this season, 11 of which have come in Europe.
