Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen Prediction and Betting Tips: Best Bets for Europa League Final in Dublin

Live on TNT Sports, Italian side Atalanta go up against the German Champions Bayer Leverkusen in this massive Europa League final on Wednesday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

The Italians come into this final in decent form, having won seven of their last nine games in all competitions. Having beaten the likes of Liverpool and Marseille on their way to the final, they will be full of confidence as they aim to win their first ever European trophy but they are up against a Leverkusen side that are on an astronomical 51 game unbeaten run. 

The German Champions became the first team in the history of the Bundesliga to go a whole league season unbeaten and now aim to do the treble having both the Europa League and the DFB-Pokal finals still to play. They have been a formidable attacking force under coach Xabi Alonso, having scored a huge 135 goals across all competitions which helped them end Bayern Munich’s 11-year reign of dominance in the Bundesliga. 

These two sides went head to head in the round of 16 stage of this competition two years ago with Atalanta winning on both occasions 3-2 and 1-0 but the Germans are a different force this time around. A highly competitive final is on the cards with two attacking sides going head to head and I’ve included two of my best bets in this preview below: 

Team News:

Emil Holm, Saad Kolasinac & Marten De Roon are out for Atalanta.

Bayer Leverkusen are free of any injury concerns ahead of the final.

In the absence of Marten De Roon, Ederson Silva should be at the heart of Atalanta’s midfield doing most of the defensive work. He averages 2.3 tackles and 1.4 fouls per game so far this season in the league and has registered 0, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 & 3 tackles in his last seven Europa League appearances. He has also committed a foul in 13 of his last 15 league appearances, also picking up eight yellow cards in the process. 

As for Koopmeiners, he is averaging 1.8 shots per game in the Europa League this season and has attempted at least one shot in nine of his ten appearances in this competition this season. He attempted 3, 2, 3 & 4 shots against Liverpool and Marseille in the quarter-final & semi-final leading up to this game and looks a great shout to have at least one attempt on goal. 

Finally, I do expect cynical fouls in the second half with a European trophy on the line and we have a card happy referee Istvan Kovacs who should comfortably dish out at least one card in the final 45 minutes. 

As already mentioned above, Jose Ederson Silva loves flying into tackles and has already been cautioned eight times, making him their second most booked player after Marten De Roon who is out for this game. He was also booked in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final against Marseille and I can see him going into the book again in the final. 

Victor Boniface is Leverkusen’s top scorer in the league (14 goals) as well as the Europa League (5 goals) and will be their biggest threat up front. Combining these two selections gives us a cracking longshot double @ 7/1 and we will take that as our second bet for this game with a small 0.25pt stake.

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.