There are seven cracking Europa Conference League playoff second-leg ties to be played on Thursday night with interesting contests across the continent.
Real Betis will have to turn around a 1-0 deficit against Dinamo Zagreb (17:45), while Eintracht Frankfurt’s tie with Union Saint-Gilloise (20:00) is finely poised at 2-2.
- Olympiacos to beat Ferencvaros
- Servette to beat Ludogorets
- Ajax to beat Bodo/Glimt
Olympiacos Have Class To Win
Olympiacos take a 1-0 advantage to Budapest when they take on Ferencvaros in the second leg of their Europa Conference League tie and the Greek champions can seal the deal in style.
It hasn’t been an altogether comfortable season for Thrylos, who sit in fourth place in the Greek top flight and were eliminated from the group stage of the Europa League, but change may have brought about some improvement from the Piraeus outfit.
Olympiacos appointed former Seville boss Jose Luis Mendilibar as their head coach earlier this month and the Spaniard was in charge of the 1-0 first-leg victory over Ferencvaros.
That was a contest where Thrylos registered 17 shots and eight corners and were clearly the better side.
Mendilibar made some chances to his team for the 4-1 win over PAOK Salonika at the weekend, which should have kept the squad fresh for Thursday evening, and this is an Olympiacos outfit who can call on Daniel Podence, Ayoub El Kaabi, Stevan Jovetic, Fran Navarro and Kostas Fortounis in attack.
Servette Can Deliver Qualification
Servette failed to break down a defensive-minded Ludogorets in the first leg, but the Swiss side look good value to strike in Bulgaria.
The Maroons took 23 shots in Stade de Geneve contest last week and on another occasion Rene Weiler’s men would have been comfortable winners.
Servette have lost only two of their last 21 matches, they are the only side keeping tabs on Young Boys at the top of their domestic division and they can beat a Ludogorets outfit who were defeated 3-1 by Fenerbahce and 7-1 by Nordsjaelland in the group stage of this competition.
Ajax Can Beat Bodo/Glimt
Ajax and Bodo/Glimt played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in the first leg and the Dutch side needed two injury-time goals to draw level in that tie. However, John van't Schip’s side had 62% possession, won the corner count 6-0 and the shot count 14-4 in Amsterdam and it should really have been a comfortable Ajax victory.
Albert Gronbaek scored twice for Bodo/Glimt in that tie, but the 22-year-old has been ruled out of the return leg along with Sondre Brunstad Fet, Jostein Gundersen and Odin Bjortuft.
Ajax should be too strong for their depleted rivals in Norway.
