Inter Milan vs Shakhtar Donetsk
They landed in the 2020 Europa League after crashing out of the Champions League, but now European heavyweights Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk have their eye on the next trophy.
Just two games separate either Inter or Shakhtar from the Europa League title, and that would mean more than just compensation for missing out on the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Luis Castro’s Donetsk were unlucky to be drawn in Group C alongside Manchester City and a goal-crazy Atalanta team and they missed out narrowly just a single point behind the Serie A title chasers.
But Inter will rightly claim to have been in the toughest group of all, and were ousted by Barcelona and Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund from Group F.
Neither team has won a European title over the last decade. And so there is plenty at stake as they battle it out at the Mercur-Spiel Arena in Dusseldorf on Monday night.
I Nerazzurri are strong favourites to make it to the final, with SBOBET odds of 1.30 to see of Shakhtar while the Ukranians are available at 3.38.
Talking Points
Inter hungry for success
Antonio Conte’s Inter are aiming to book their first European final place since winning the Champions League title back in 2010, and they will be looking to re-open their trophy cabinet next week.
I Nerazzurri’s key man is striker Romelu Lukaku who has enjoyed a spectacular first campaign in Italy after his £80-M switch from Manchester United.
He scored 31 this season in all competitions and was on target last week as Inter overcame a difficult quarterfinal tie against Bayer Leverkusen with a 2-1 victory. That was the Belgian’s fourth goal in this competition and he’ll be hungry for more on Monday night.
The Milan club stumbled in the run-in to the end of the 2020 Serie A campaign, holding Atalanta off to claim second place, but Antonio Conte’s team was neck and neck with Juventus for the first half of the 2019/20 season.
The boss was furious when I Bianconeri eased away to collect a ninth successive Scudetto, calling his team the best of the losers. That might just have fired them up for European glory.
Shakhtar is a dangerous outsider
With Manchester United contesting the other semifinal against Europa League specialists Sevilla, the latest Europa League 2020 betting odds pitch Shakhtar as rank outsiders.
Head coach Luis Castro has led Donetsk to a fourth consecutive Ukranian Premier League title and they made easy work of Basel with a 4-1 win to make it to this semifinal.
One man in the Europa League 2020 news has been Brazilian born striker Junior Moraes.
The Ukranian’s top scorer has five goals and he bagged two in Shakhtar’s impressive 3-0 Round of 16 second leg win over Wolfsburg. That made it 5-1 on aggregate, a good measure of the Ukranian’s strength against a Bundesliga top-seven side.
They totally dominated the Germans in the second leg, winning the shot count by 18 to nine and nine to two on target.
At 33 years of age, Moraes has just received Ukranian citizenship and he’s as sharp as ever, scoring 38 goals in 51 appearances for Donetsk, and 26 across all competitions this season.
In support, midfield man Alan Patrick has three goals while midfielder Marlos has made three assists, so Inter’s defence will face a serious attacking threat.
History
These teams have met on only two occasions previously in a Champions League qualification tie back in 2005, when Inter won the away leg 0-2 before playing out a 1-1 draw in Milan as well as winning 13 domestic titles.
On the other hand, Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup, which is the forerunner of the Europa League in 2009.
Recently, both teams are in impressive form having won five and drawn one in the last six games.
In fact, Inter are unbeaten in 10 and are on a winning streak of five, while Shakhtar are unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions.
Betting Tip
Inter Milan vs Shakhtar Donetsk | Total Goals 2-3 @ 1.89 | |
August 18, 03:00 (GMT+8) |
This is a fascinating clash with Inter at 1.72 to win, Donetsk at 4.07 and the 90-minute draw available at odds of 3.54.
Over 2.50 goals is priced low at 1.68 with two teams keen to play on the front foot. But there is a lot at stake and both defences will be aware of the threat they face and ready for the fight.
I expect the Italians to edge this by the odd goal. And for an outside bet, 2-1 to Inter at 6.56 is the second most likely result after 1-1.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR () BETS ARE WORTH: | |||
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= €20 (Highly confident) | = €10 (CONFIDENT) | = €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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