UEFA Europa League
On Thursday night, Sparta Prague and Galatasaray go head-to-head in the Europa League knockout round play-offs second leg. The first leg in Turkey finished 3-2 to Thursday's visitors, but with such a narrow difference between the teams, it’s all still to play for in this tie.
Sparta Prague bounced back at the weekendThe club from the Czech capital bounced back nicely from the first-leg defeat, as they saw off Slovan Liberec 2-1 in the Czech Liga. The result means that Sparta have now won two of their three games since returning from their winter break.
The home team’s recent games have also been high-scoring, with at least 2.5 goals scored in their three competitive outings in 2024.
Sparta have a mixed recent record in the Europa League, winning just two of their last five matches in European football’s secondary competition. However, the first leg was the home side’s first game in this year’s competition, having dropped down from the Champions League.
Galatasaray looking to extend their winning runThe visitors have built up some positive momentum lately, as Okan Burak’s team followed up the first-leg win with a 3-0 weekend win at Ankaragucu. The victory extended Galatasaray’s winning run to ten games in all competitions. They are also unbeaten in 14 competitive outings.
The most significant factor in Galatasaray’s recent good form has been their lethal finishing, as they have scored at least two goals in all ten of their consecutive victories.
Like their hosts, the first leg of this tie was Galatasaray’s first game in the Europa League this season, as they dropped out of the Champions League. The first-leg victory ended a three-game winless run in the Europa League.
What am I backing?The first leg was goal-filled, as have both team’s recent games. I can see this being another high-scoring encounter, so the bet I am backing is over 2.5 goals scored.
