Football betting tips: Europa Conference League
2pts Both teams to score at 10/11 (Coral, Ladbrokes, Betfred)
1pt Shakhtar Donetsk to win at 5/1 (bet365)
0.5pt Shakhtar Donetsk to win and both teams to score at 10/1 (bet365)
*All bets settled in 90 mins
Crystal Palace have one foot in the final after beating Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg last Thursday.
Ismaila Sarr’s goal inside 25 seconds got the Eagles off to a dream start, Oleh Ocheretko equalised just after half time, then Palace were back in front via Daichi Kamada on the hour before Jorgen Strand Larsen gave his side a two goal cushion six minutes from time.
The Eagles have shortened to 4/7 generally to win the competition now, 1/2 to win in 90 minutes on Thursday and they are a measly 1/500 on to make the final in places.
Given the dynamic of the second leg - and more importantly at the prices available - I think BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE is the bet.
Palace have kept clean sheets in half their home games in this competition, each of them coming in their last three games.
But in the knock-out phase, they tend to concede in the second leg. AEK Larnaca scored against Palace, they took the game to extra-time with 10 men as well.
Fiorentina actually beat the Eagles in the second leg of the quarter-final stage, albeit they were trying to chase down a three goal deficit.
Neither of those sides managed to score in the first legs against Palace so Shakhtar Donetsk already have a leg up in that sense.
There’s also a case to be made that the Ukrainians play their best stuff away from home (Shakhtar play their home games in Poland in the Conference League).
Thursday's visitors are unbeaten on the road in this competition (W4 D1) scoring at least two goals in all five of their games, plus they have only kept one clean sheet.
With this in mind, I’ll be touting SHAKHTAR DONETSK TO WIN and TO WIN AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE at 5/1 and 10/1 respectively.
Don’t forget, this is Palace’s first appearance in a major European competition, Shakhtar have been doing it for half a century and that experience has to count for something.
The visitors are highly unlikely to make Leipzig, as quotes of 22/1 suggest, but with nothing to lose it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them make this very uncomfortable for the hosts.
Odds correct at 11:45 BST (06/05/26)
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