Europa League specialists Sevilla too strong for Valencia

Having steamrolled one of the tournament favourites Porto with a 4-1 second-leg win in the last round, Sevilla will be confident of doing the business again when Valencia come to town.

The Rojiblancos are 3/4 favourites for victory over their old La Liga adversaries following an impressive run of four straight wins in all competitions heading into this key European clash.

Unai Emery’s side have been particularly impressive at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, winning seven of their last eight games there and scoring a hatful of goals along the way with four registered in four of their last five fixtures at the ground.

Valencia shipped three in the first leg of their quarter-final encounter with Basel and while the 5/2 on over 2.5 Sevilla goals is tempting, having a cheeky punt on over 3.5 at tasty odds of 7/1 may also be worth a look.

Los Che have been poor on the road of late and having won just one of their last seven away games, the 15/4 on a Valencia win may be better best avoided, despite their heroic comeback against the Swiss at home last time out.

That’s not to say that the 2002 UEFA Cup winners aren’t capable of taking something from the game, having picked up draws in three of their last four games on the road.

Ladbrokes is offering 11/4 on this game being a stalemate and given that Valencia managed just that with a 0-0 draw on their last trip to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, it could well be worth a look.

Those predicting the kind of park-the-bus affair witnessed when Atletico Madrid hosted Chelsea earlier this week, meanwhile, can get 8/1 on another goalless game.

But with Sevilla in good form and boasting a pedigree of two UEFA Cup wins in the last decade, the home side should be favoured with Colombian striker Carlos Bacca among the men to watch.

Keen to stake a place in Los Cafeteros’ starting line-up for the World Cup, the 27-year-old is 4/1 to score the first goal of the game and a 10/11 banker to get a goal at anytime.

With three goals in his last four home outings for the Seville side – including goals against Porto and Real Madrid – he could make the difference here.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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