The second Europa League semi-final takes place on Monday evening, with Serie A giants Inter Milan up against Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk. Paul Higham looks at the betting.
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2pts Inter to beat Shakhtar & both teams to score at 9/4
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Inter Milan v Shakhtar Donetsk
- 2000 kick-off on BT Sport 1
- Match odds: Inter - 3/4 | Draw - 29/10 | Shakhtar - 10/3
These two are both on great runs as they look to make the Europa League final - Shakhtar are unbeaten in 11 (W9 D2) while Inter's current unbeaten streak is 10 (W7 D 3) after they chased home Juve in the Italian title race. They fell just a point short in the end.
A trophy would be a great way to end the season for Antonio Conte and with Romelu Lukaku in the form of his life they're favoured to get the better of the dangerous Ukrainian side - who swept both Basel (4-1) and Wolfsburg (3-0) aside with ease in the last two rounds.
The odds look a little unfair on Shakhtar, with 100/30 on them winning being generous given the talent they've got in the squad and their goal threat. They've bagged 14 goals in five Europa League matches and in Junior Moraes have a striker who's scored seven times in his last six games.
Moraes as a 15/8 anytime scorer is worth your consideration again, while it may pay to keep faith with him as a 5/1 first goalscorer after landing that bet for us last time out - which was the third time in a row he'd scored first in the Europa League.
For reference, Lukaku is 100/30 to open the scoring, something he's done just once in Europe this season and three times in the last 11 games in all competitions. Lautaro Martinez might be the better option for Inter at 9/2 given he scored first in four games in a row during Inter's Champions League run earlier in the season.
Lukaku has been unplayable of late and has been hugely impressive since moving to Serie A - proving his doubters wrong by scoring 23 goals this season and taking a real fancy to the Europa League. His goal against Leverkusen last time out saw him find the net for the ninth game in a row in this competition - stretching back to his Everton days!
He'll be a popular anytime choice of course, and at around 11/10 you can't really put anyone off given the run he's on in this competition - although Inter do have a number of other dangerous options for goals.
Inter have five clean sheets in six, but Shakhtar have shown enough to think that there'll be goals here, and the bookies agree (over 2.5 goals is 8/13). Seven of Shakhtar's eight European ties this season have contained three goals or more, with their last seven Europa League games all eclipsing that mark.
Both sides have a habit of scoring twice or more, Inter have done it in 13 of their last 15 games and Shakhtar in 12 of 14, so it's a pretty comfortable prediction to say they'll both find the net here.
Inter certainly have weaknesses, and Shakhtar have more than enough quality to expose those, but in what should be an entertaining contest the Italians will just have enough firepower to get them through.
Prediction: Inter 3-1 Shakhtar (Sky Bet odds: 12/1)
Best bet: Inter to beat Shakhtar & both teams to score at 9/4
Opta stats
- Inter Milan will appear in the semi-final of a European competition for the first time since the 2009/10 in the UEFA Champions League (winning the competition that year), whilst this is the eighth time the Italian side have reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup/ Europa League – more than any other side.
- The only previous meeting between Inter and Shakhtar Donetsk was in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase, with Inter winning 3-1 on aggregate across two legs.
- Since dropping out of the UEFA Champions League, Inter have won all four of their UEFA Europa League games this season – they last won five consecutive matches in major European competition (excluding qualifiers) between December 2009 – April 2010 (a run of six) on their way to the UEFA Champions League final.
- Shakhtar Donetsk are looking to reach only their second ever UEFA European final, last achieving that feat in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, knocking out Dynamo Kiev in the semi-final and beating Werder Bremen in the final.
- In the quarter final, Inter’s Romelu Lukaku became the first player in UEFA Cup/ Europa League history to score in nine consecutive matches a run stretching back to November 2014 with Everton. The Belgian striker has been involved in 15 goals in his last nine UEFA Europa League matches (12 goals & 3 assists).
- Junior Moraes has been directly involved in seven goals in seven UEFA Europa League appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk (5 goals, 2 assists), with all of these games coming in the knockout phase of the competition.
Odds correct as of 1754 BST on 16/8/20
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