Europa League acca tips and predictions: Ajax the latest giant to be slain by Norwegians
- George Dempsey
- 21 February 2024
There’s an action-packed football evening on Thursday and the Europa League and Europa Conference League play-offs continue.
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Europa League Acca
Freiburg vs Lens
Freiburg held Lens to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of this Europa League play-off which is a result that suits the German side, but they could have won it.
The French side didn’t register a single shot on target, unlike the Germans who had four on frame and fashioned 17 chances despite limited possession.
We’d expect the hosts to make all of the running here. They’ve scored 24 in nine at home, posing a real goal threat.
Qarabag vs Braga
Nobody was predicting Qarabag to march into Braga and put the hosts to the sword but the Azerbaijani outsiders now hold a commanding 4-2 lead.
Braga have shown their powers of recovery several times this season, overturning a 2-0 deficit away to Union Berlin to steal all three points in added time.
They also came back from 1-0 down to rescue a point despite playing with 10 men for 60 minutes in the reverse fixture and ran Real Madrid and Napoli close. This isn’t over.
Rennes vs AC Milan
There’s no question that AC Milan is good enough to go to France and win, but the fact they hold a 3-1 lead does make a big difference.
That’s not to say they’d go there to settle for a one-goal loss, but they won’t play an expansive enough game to run all over Rennes and the hosts can score.
The French side is certainly dangerous enough to make a fist of this tie still but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the visitors score and at some point, they may look to hold what they have.
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Union SG
We turn our attention to the Europa Conference League now where Eintracht Frankfurt and Union SG are level at 2-2 ahead of their play-off second leg.
The Germans led 2-0 inside 10 minutes, threw away that lead and couldn’t make the most of playing the final 17 minutes against 10 men.
Union failed to find the net in their three Europa League group-stage matches so they face an uphill task against a side that has scored 15 in seven at home, including five against Bayern Munich.
Bodo Glimt vs Ajax
Last but not least, we take a trip to Bodo where the Norwegian minnows will still be ruing a missed opportunity after drawing 2-2 with Ajax last weekend.
Celtic, AZ, Roma and Besiktas are among the clubs to be vanquished here in recent seasons in an uncomfortable setting where Kjetil Knutsen’s side are averaging 2.6 goals per game since the start of 2023.
Ajax are winless in four and needed the help of a red card and a penalty in stoppage time to overturn last week’s deficit, but they can’t afford to be as leaky here.
