It’s another massive night in the world of European football on Thursday as the Europa League and Europa Conference League gear up to hoof out a load of minnows with the conclusion of their respective knock out rounds.
And, to give it that real ‘festival of football’ vibe the 16 games across the two competitions are spread out across two kick off times. Here, our tipster Colin Harvey runs the rule over the 5.45pm kick offs. Let’s get into it.
Thursday’s 5.45pm kick off tips
Galatasaray v AZ Alkmaar – Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals
Heidenheim v Copenhagen – Copenhagen to qualify
Real Betis v Gent – Betis (-1)
Roma v Porto – Porto (+1)
- An Acca with these bets pays at approximately 28/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
Galatasaray v AZ Alkmaar – BTTS & Over 2.5 goals
TV: TNT Sports 5
We’ll start in Turkey where Galatasaray face a big task to turn this tie around having lost 4-1 to a Troy Parrott-inspired AZ Alkmaar seven days ago. That might be pushing it a bit, but the former Spurs man scored a penalty for the Eredivisie side last week.
He’s in decent form overall but so are the rest of his team-mates and their opponents here, too. Gala are six points clear at the top of the Super Lig and are eyeing an invincible season domestically.
However, they’ve been pretty shoddy in the Europa League and they’ve won just three games this season, drawing four and losing their last two. AZ are a little tricky to pin down. They’ve lost three Europa League matches and finished 19th, five places behind Gala in the league stage, and are 5th in the Eredivisie.
Given the surprise nature of the Dutch side’s win last week it feels like anything could happen here and we could see a big backlash from Gala on home soil. That means they could leave the back door open in what could be a thriller as both teams score with over 2.5 goals inside the 90.
Heidenheim v Copenhagen – Copenhagen to qualify
TV: TNT Sports 9
You’d be hard pressed to find another team in the history of world football who are in worse form than Heidenheim but have still managed to make it to any kind of European knockout game. It’s true that UEFA have made it almost impossible not to qualify from these group stages, but get a load of this.
Heidenheim are third bottom of the Bundesliga and have lost 16 of their 22 games to date, the most in the whole league. Yet here they are, welcoming serial Champions League group stagers Copenhagen to Germany with a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
The Germans have lost 13 of their last 17 in all competitions with only Hearts, Union Berlin and Copenhagen losing to the Bundesliga relegation battlers since the 24th of October 2024. The Danes, on the other hand, have won seven of their last nine games and will still fancy their chances of progression.
Heidenheim are Paddy’s favourites to win inside the 90 and also to progress but their overall form is so bad you can’t back them to do anything than lose with any confidence. Copenhagen know how to win and there could be great value in backing them to qualify one way or another.
Real Betis v Gent – Betis (-1)
TV: TNT Sports 8
Real Betis gave Gent a good hammering in the first leg and it could get ugly for the Belgians as they head to the Iberian Peninsula. The lads from La Liga ran out 3-0 winners with future Ballon d’Or winner Antony getting among the goals.
As such, you’ll not be surprised to read that Betis are Paddy’s big favourites and they racked up another 3-0 triumph at the weekend over Real Sociedad while Gent struggled past Beerschot 3-2 thanks to two penalties, one of which came deep into injury time.
This looks ripe for another heavy Betis win but the only question is, how much effort are they going to put into this match? Even if they are a bit below their best it may not matter because they have the better squad and are in better form with home advantage to boot.
Betis (-1) might be a bit of a risk if they send out the under 21s, but a decent line up should get this done.
Roma v Porto – Porto (+1)
TV: TNT Sports 3
The second leg of this Jose Mourinho derby is finely poised in the Europa League after a 1-1 stalemate first time around. Roma threw away a lead before Porto drew level and then Bryan Cristante was given his marching orders five minutes after the equaliser.
While Jose is not involved in this game, it could play out like his dream European contest. Cagey and full of aggro.
Porto have been well below their usual standard and are feeling their way back into the season after a run of four successive losses in a row at the start of 2025. They’ve had four draws in their last six and it’s hard to see this game being one for anyone other than the purists.
Roma have lost only one of their last seven games in all competitions but they’ve been fairly tedious to watch and they’ve scored just the one goal in each of their last five. I fancy this might be another draw but Porto +1 is a good price and covers us for two of the three potential outcomes.
Thursday’s football tips
Galatasaray v AZ Alkmaar – Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals
Heidenheim v Copenhagen – Copenhagen to qualify
Real Betis v Gent – Betis (-1)
Roma v Porto – Porto +1
- An Acca with these bets pays at approximately 28/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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