Europa League football betting - Benfica vs Hertha Berlin

Benfica host Hertha Berlin tonight in the knock-out stages of the Europa League. The hosts will be confident of coming away with a result after drawing 1-1 in Germany in the first leg of the tie and have been in excellent form domestically, winning six of their last seven league games to sit top of the table. They have also impressed in Europe with wins in all four of their home games so far, scoring eleven goals and conceding only one.

The hosts are favourites for the match at 4/11 (bet £110 to win £40 profit), leaving the visitors as big underdogs at 8/1. Hertha have been woeful this season in the Bundesliga and are currently sitting bottom of the league. Last time out they beat SC Freiburg 3-0 away and could gain some confidence from this, but it was only their third win of the season and their last three-goal victory was followed by two successive 0-0 draws and a defeat. The draw is available at 4/1 tonight with Ladbrokes and may be interesting as the visitors have drawn four of their last six matches in all competitions. However, it is difficult to argue with Benfica`s form both domestically and in Europe.

The bookmakers seem to think Benfica can record a comfortable win tonight and have made a 2-0 home win the favourite score for the match at 11/2, followed by 1-0 at 6/ and a more impressive 3-0 at 17/2 with Skybet. A respeat of the first leg`s 1-1 draw is priced at 9/1, with a goalless draw, which would send Benfica through, at 13/1. A shock 1-0 win for Hertha is available at 22/1 with 888sport.

Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo, who has hit 16 goals in just eighteen games for Benfica this season, has been made favourite t open the scoring tonight at 4/1 with Coral, ahead of  Javier Saviola at 9/2 and Nuno Gomes at 5/1. Highly-rated winger Angel Di Maria, who has been linked with almost every top club in Europe, is 9/1 to score the first goal tonight, although the twenty-two year-old has yet to find the net this season. Theofanis Gekas is seen as Hertha`s best hope of doing the honour tonight, priced at 11/1.

Benfica are 1/1 with Skybet to lead tonight at both half-time and full-time and 7/2 to win after drawing at the interval. The bookmakers offer 7/1 that both halves end in a draw and make Benfica 18/1 to be winning at both half-time and at the final whistle. The visitors are 20 with Coral to win after drawing at half-time.

Hertha`s recent form domestically, along with the challenge they face tonight, mean that they are given almost no hope of winning the Europa league this year, priced at 150/1. Benfica, on the other hand, have shown that they can compete with anyone, and have been installed as the fifth favourites for the competition.

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