Sportsbooks promise bloodbath by hometeams in Europa League quarterfinals

The 2010-11 UEFA Europa League is down to just eight teams as the tournament heads into the quarterfinals this week.

JackpotFinder-recommended online sportsbooks bet365, BetUS and Intertops are all in agreement that the home teams are odds-on favorites to outright win the first leg of this stage.

Closest-fought among the four Europa League matches would appear to be PSV Eindhoven, which gets odds as “short” as 7/2 to win outright against Benfica at Intertops; the same sportsbook also posts a 12/5 line on a draw.

Football power Spain, meanwhile, is left with just one club, Villarreal. Villarreal is posted at bet365 online sportsbook as a 4/6 favorite to win outright in hosting FC Twente; striker Nilmar was recently quoted as calling the Europa Cup a “priority” to win. Nilmar’s put some 11 goals into the net in 23 Spanish league games and based on these numbers alone a couple of good proposition bets come to life at BetUS: How about “Villarreal by 1 goal” (9/4) or “Villarreal by 2 goals” (13/4)?

Match W/D/L	Bet365	BetUS	Intertops
Villarreal v FC Twente	4/6 13/5 17/4	5/9 5/2 4/1	31/50 5/2 4/1
Dynamo Kiev v Braga	3/5 13/5 5/1	5/9 5/2 4/1	57/100 5/2 9/2
FC Porto v Spartak Moscow	2/5 10/3 15/2	5/13 3/1 7/1	9/25 16/5 7/1
Benfica v PSV Eindhoven	3/4 5/2 15/4	5/7 23/10 67/20	7/10 12/5 7/2

If you’re looking for an upset (or at least a surprising draw), look to the Dynamo Kiev-Braga match. Kiev will be going in without midfielder Milos Ninkovic – will the absence of the Serbian superstar tip the scales toward Braga a bit? The longest (and thus most favorable those punting on the underdog) odds on Braga are offered by bet365, who gives the side a 5/1 chance to win and 13/5 to pull off a draw.

Finally, there’s the longest of the longshots, Spartak Moscow. Spartak’s getting 7/1 odds to win outright at BetUS and Intertops, plus a slightly longer 15/2 at bet365. The complete list of outright match result adds offered by the three online sportsbooks are as follows.

JackpotFinder-approved online sportsbooks Intertops, BetUS and bet365 each have a few dozen proposition bets on each of the four matches in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals. All host live in-game betting, too, so join the action on Europe League betting this week!