Europa League – Just two games to go

The tie of the round sees Villarreal travel to cup favourites Porto, whilst Braga make the short trip to Benfica in an all Portuguese tie.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Porto vs. Villarreal                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The highly rated Andre Villas-Boas is likely to use his preferred 4-3-3 formation, he has to decide whether to bring Fredy Guarin back into midfield or to stick with Ruben Micael. Hulk and Falcao will start upfront with one of either Silvestre Varela or Cristian Rodriguez.                                                                                                                                                      

The home side are enjoying an incredible run of form this season, they are unbeaten in the league and have only lost twice in all competitions which was against Sevilla and Benfica.                                                                                                                                    

Nilmar is likely to return to the starting line-up having missed the second leg of the last round due to suspension. Him and Giuseppe Rossi give the Spanish side one of Europe’s deadliest strike partnerships.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

The experienced Marcos Senna is in the squad but is unlikely to play whilst Borja Valero should replace young winger Wakaso Mubarak in the starting line-up.                                                                                                                                                               

Striker Falcao is the competition’s leading scorer with eleven goals, just one ahead of Giuseppe Rossi meaning there should be goals in this game – over 2.5 goals is 4/5 which is well worth backing.                                                                                            

An expected home win is 4/6 whilst you can get 5s for the Spaniards to pull off a shock. Falcao is 7/2 to find the back of the net first but Rossi at 9s could be worth a few quid.                                                                                                                                                      

Benfica vs. Braga                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Jorge Jesus rested a few players for the second leg game against PSV, his favourite formation is 4-4-2 with ex-Real Madrid Javi Garcia as his holding midfield player. Up front the has a very potent strike force with Javier Saviola and Oscar Cardozo.                                                                                                                                                                                             

Braga have Paulo Cesar suspended following his red card against Dynamo Kiev, so they are likely to play Alan and Lima. They will be without Quim and Vinicius who are both out injured.                                                                                                                           

Benfica have an excellent record against Braga at Estadio da Luz where they have only lost once since the 1954-55 season. The away side have drawn their last three Europa League games and only scored four games in their last six games in this competition.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The home side should have a comfortable win. Odds of 4/7 are the best available for Benfica, whilst an away win is 6s and a draw is 3s. Cardozo is favourite to score first at 4s whilst you can get 5s on his Argentine strike partner.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

by Scott Balaam

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