Polished and comfortable victories both home and away against Manchester United led to Atheltic Bilbao catching the eye of many across the continent with their intense brand of pressing, free-flowing football both admirable and aesthetically pleasing.
Their domestic form, however, has suffered and the Basques find themselves in tenth place in the La Liga table heading into this weekend's final game of the season. The Basques are priced at 15/8 (2.87) with Sportingbet to claim a win in tonight's final, but despite their excellent run in the competition they are not the favourites.
Indeed, Atletico Madrid are available at 7/5 (2.40) to record a victory, and Diego Simeone's side have been hard to beat in recent weeks, lying five places and four points ahead of Athletic in the league table.
Both sides boast an exceptional striker who would walk into most teams across the world, with Atheltic's Fernando Llorente and Atletico's Radamel Falcao enjoying excellent goalscoring seasons.
Six of the Basque's 22 goals have come in the Europa League, while the Colombian's ten goals in the Europa League look like making him the top scorer in the competition for the second season in a row. Falcao is priced at 7/5 (2.40) to score at anytime with Llorente offered at 7/4 (2.75) and either of those look like tempting bets.
Yet the one bet for the final has to be for over 2.5 goals offered at what looks to be an unmissable price of 19/20 (1.95).
This bet has paid out in five of Atleti's last six Europa League games, and every one of Atheltic's last six matches in the competition. Both teams posses world class strikers who will be desperate to shine on the biggest stage, and the price looks like offering real value.
 |
BET |
OF THE |
DAY |
| BEST BET |
VALUE BET |
| Over 2.5 goals 19/20 (1.95) with Sportingbet |
Fernando Llorente to score at any time (2.75) with Sportingbet |
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Phil Kitromilides is a sports broadcaster working on radio and TV in London and Madrid, you can also follow Phil on Twitter