Wednesday May 27, 2015 – Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw
Reigning champions Seville will be attempting to lift UEFA’s second most prestigious club football trophy for the fourth time in ten years when they meet Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Poland on May 27. Unai Emery’s team have become masters of a competition that has often been criticised, particularly by representatives from British clubs that have failed to do well in the tournament.
The Spanish side have also dispelled the myth that the competition is an unwanted distraction that puts too much strain on thinner squads, by putting in a strong top-four challenge in their domestic league. With just one game to go they still have two avenues open for Champions League qualification. Los Rojiblancos lost just one of their ten matches on the way to the final and will start the match as clear favourites. Their most impressive performance came in the 5-0 aggregate semi-final victory over Italian club Fiorentina.
The route to the final was a much tougher one for the Ukrainians who started their campaign by losing to Copenhagen and Hadjuk Split in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, before dropping into the Europa League Group Stages. They earned just a single point from their first three games and looked to be heading out of the competition when they trailed Group F on the final match day. A 1-0 victory at home to St. Etienne and a draw for Qarabağ against Inter was enough to secure second place in the group with a total of just 7 points.
Despite their uninspiring group stage performances, the Ukrainians turned plenty of heads in the knockout rounds with hard-fought victories over Olympiakos, Ajax, Club Brugge and Napoli. The win at home to the Italian team in the semi-finals was perhaps their best performance yet.
There is not much value to be gained from backing Sevilla with a best price of 3/10 available from Bet365 for them to lift the trophy. For better value, back the Spaniards to be winning at half time and full time at 6/5. If you fancy Dnipro to cause an upset, Bet365 will give you 6/1 for them to win the match over 90 minutes.
Sevilla stats:
- Only defeat in last 13 matches was 2-3 defeat at home to Real Madrid in the league.
- No losses in last nine Europa League matches.
- Won 10 out of 14 Europa League games this season with just one defeat.
- Reigning champions.
- Average of 1.9 goals scored per game in the competition
- Eighth Spanish finalist in last 10 years.
Dnipro stats:
- Conceded just 0.7 goals per game in Europa League.
- Lost three out of last five matches in all competitions.
- Won just six out of 14 Europa League games this season.
- First Ukrainian finalist since 2008-09.