Portugal teams receive unbeatable betting odds in UEFA Europa League

Thursday night will see the Europa League finalists determined as the second leg of the semifinal round concludes.

And if you think these matches are tricky to call, you’re not alone: The odds at JackpotFinder-approved online sportsbooks BetUS, Bodog and Sportsbook.com (particularly for the Villarreal-FC Porto match) reveal little more than a pair of close matches are expected.

In the Braga-Benfica match, the home side is down by a 2-1 aggregate; the battle between Portuguese sides two weeks ago was a strange one, with all three goals scored inside of nine minutes of play – a good representation of teams with scoring threats that usually play on the conservative side. The longest odds on Braga are the 7/4 offered by Sportsbook.com, while this bookmaker and Bodog have a draw at 9/4.

Even more difficult to wager on might be the “over/under 2.5 goals” proposition bet. On the one hand, these aren’t explosive teams. On the other hand, Braga will need to score at least one goal to advance and an early score could unleash the attack waves – and scoring. At BetUS, the over is at 1/1 while the under starts at 14/19; this could be a good bet in live in-match scoring. The outright winner odds offered may be seen in the table at right.

Match W/D/L	Bodog	Sportsbook.com	BetUS
SC Braga v Benfica	13/8 9/4 8/5	7/4 9/4 29/20	8/5 11/5 17/11
Villareal v FC Porto	6/4 5/2 13/8	3/2 5/2 31/20	3/2 9/4 33/20

In the other match, the main story is probably the foregone conclusion of an all-Portugal final. Porto won by the ridiculous score of 5-1, leaving Nilmar Honorato da Silva mostly alone among the optimists in telling the media that “nothing is impossible.” Even so, online sportsbooks remain a bit more stoic. Villarreal and Porto are both right around 3/2 to win this match outright, though Bodog has a short 13/8 listed for Porto to win.

As for Nilmar, he may need a bit of a miracle. At Bodog, he’s drawing odds of 6/4 to score any time during the match in that bookmaker’s “Goalscorer” proposition betting, while betting on a Nilmar hat trick pays out at 33/1.

Oh, and Villareal winning by a score of 5-1 has odds of 60/1 at BetUS. Outright winner odds may be seen in the table.

For betting on Europa League matches as well as competitions from throughout the world of soccer, check out JackpotFinder-approved online bookmakers BetUS, Bodog and Sportsbook.com this weekend and throughout the year!