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The 2014 Europa League final will see Benfica take on Sevilla in Turin, Wednesday 14th of May. Benfica is the odds-on favorite for good reason, but Sevilla will know they have a fighting chance to lift the trophy for the third time.
After a rather poor first part of the season, Sevilla caught some excellent form in 2013 which helped them challenge for a Champions League spot in Spain and sent them trough to the Europa League final. Sevilla was simply brilliant for a 3 month period from late February to late April, however lately the Spanish side has apparently lost that amazing form. In the last 4 games Sevilla has 3 draws and 1 defeat, meaning they lost the fight for a top 4 finish in Spain and needed a massive amount of luck to survive the semifinal tie against Valencia in the Europa League – needing a 95th minute goal to qualify after winning the first leg 2-0.
Benfica is inches away from having a perfect season, one that could even go down as the best in their history. Benfica won the league, won the league cup, and will play 2 more finals in the Portugese Cup and the Europa League, meaning they are close to winning all competitions they took part in this season. The Lisbon side won just once in the last 4 games but there`s no reason to worry – they played it safe in the league and won the only match that mattered, 2-0 against Rio Ave in the League Cup final. Benfica managed an impressive performance in the Europa League semifinal, knocking out a very strong Juventus side which was also highly motivated to play the final in Turin.
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Team news & lineups
Sevilla will miss Cheryshev, Cristoforo and Jairo, with Vitolo being doubtful. Benfica will have to cope with a number of key players missing: Markovic, Perez, Silvio, Salvio and Fejsa will all watch the final from the stands.
Sevilla: Beto – Coke, Fazio, Pareja, Navarro – Mbia, Carrico – Reyes, Rakitic, Vitolo – Bacca
Benfica: Moraes – Pereira, Garay, Luisao, Siqueira – Djuricic, Amorim, Gomes, Gaitan – Rodrigo, Lima
Benfica is clearly the better team in this match and they could be set for an even easier win than expected considering that Sevilla obviously lost that amazing form which allowed them to turn the season around and reached the final. However, the Portugese side has been cursed with a couple of key absences and that should even things out a little bit (along with the unpredictability of finals). Still, Benfica should win this. The team is playing fantastic this season, they knocked out Juventus and barely put a foot wrong in the last year. Benfica has a very solid defense, which is also 100% fit for this game, so they should be able to hold off Sevilla, and 90 minutes will surely be enough for the portugese to find the winning goal / goals, they have enough depth up-front to cover for those midfield injuries. My tip is Benfica to win and I’m very happy with the price on this bet, I wouldn`t have given them odds over evens to succeed in regular time. Prediction: Sevilla – Benfica 0-2.
Pick: Benfica
Odds: 2.25 @ Winner
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 10
Event date: 14 May
