Midweek Football Picks 2018- Europa League Final (May 16th)

Europa League Final 2018- Marseille vs Atletico Madrid

The Europa League Final is played in Lyon, France on Wednesday evening and the most comfortable aspect of the Final for Marseille may be that it is played at a ground they are familiar with.

Ultimately it is no surprise that Marseille are the underdog in the Final against Atletico Madrid who have been set as favourites ever since they dropped out of the Champions League into the Europa League. The early season form which cost Atletico Madrid their place in the Champions League is long gone and they have rounded into strong form and have plenty of European experience to call upon.

Many of these players have been involved in the Atletico Madrid squads who have reached two Champions League Finals in recent seasons and have regularly made the last eight of the Champions League under Diego Simeone. Their charismatic manager is banned from the touchline for the Final, but Atletico Madrid are a well drilled team and that shouldn't be a big problem for a team who beat Arsenal 1-0 at home in the Second Leg with their manager sitting in the stands.

Atletico Madrid remain tough to beat and they are sprinkled with some magic players in forward areas who can create something special to break the deadlock in any game.

It does mean they are the more likely winners despite the strong run Marseille have had in the Europa League especially when you look at the general levels of performance produced by the two teams.

While Atletico Madrid have beaten Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal, Marseille have beaten Sporting Braga, Athletic Bilbao, Leipzig and Salzburg.

The wins over Athletic Bilbao will give Marseille some real confidence against another Spanish team, but the majority of the best results Marseille have produced in the Europa League have come at home. In fact the win in Bilbao is the only win Marseille have had outside of their own Stadium in 9 Europa League ties and they have lost 5 of their last 7 and all without scoring a goal in normal time.

That has to be a real concern for the fans even if they are likely to have more fans than Atletico Madrid in the stands in Lyon. They are now going up against an Atletico Madrid team who are very tough to break down, although one that didn't have an away clean sheet in their 4 Europa League Knock Out ties.

Out of the two teams I would expect Atletico Madrid to be able to play their more natural game and limit what Marseille are able to do in the final third. Marseille have some quality players and some pace in the final third, but Atletico Madrid are organised and tough to break down when they have something to defend and I think that will be the case on Wednesday in the Final.


With the forward players Atletico Madrid have I think they will find the goal that may be enough to secure the Europa League trophy and backing the Spanish team to win to nil looks a huge price.

MY PICK: Atletico Madrid Win to Nil @ 2.87 Bet Fred (2 Units)