Europa League Final Betting Preview

Rangers Vs Eintracht Frankfurt Details

Final date - Wednesday 18th May 2022

Final venue - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville.

Favourite - Frankfurt - 5/4 to win in 90 mins.

Overview

Eintracht Frankfurt are slight favourites to win this game but when you look at both sides' journey, they perform best with the fans behind them and they both have a solid away-day following. After what we've seen from Frankfurt fans in Barcelona and Rangers fans in Dortmund, it's safe to assume that both fanbases are going to be in full voice on Wednesday night. Frankfurt are the third German side that Rangers have faced in the competition and remarkably, they've gotten past Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, both of whom will play in the Champions League next season, their final test is an Eintracht Frankfurt side that was closer to a relegation playoff than a European spot this season. On paper, this is an easier opponent than Rangers would have expected. However, Barcelona, West Ham and Real Betis all said the same thing, with two underdogs in the final, one story will have a fairytale ending and another will be a case of missed opportunities.

UEFA Europa League Betting Tips

With a spot in next season's Champions League awaiting the winners of this game, the Europa League final has never held more weight, two underdogs, who weren't expected to get through in any of their knockout rounds meet in the final for a place in the promised land, a guaranteed spot in the group stage of the Champions League against the giants of world football. However, there is also the pride of being able to say, this year, in competition with Napoli, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, we were the best team in the Europa League.

Which team will be able to get that honour? Rangers have bested eight teams to get this far while Frankfurt have bested three but neither side has faced an easy route to the final. All of their knockout games have been against impressive performances and in our match previews, we've typically favoured the opposition. However, one of these teams has performed incredibly well away from home in the Europa League this season and we think that is the telling statistic ahead of this game. Frankfurt have won five out of their six away games this season which includes wins at the Camp Nou and London Stadium, meanwhile, Rangers have won only once, against which was arguably their hardest opposition - Borussia Dortmund. When the chips are down, Rangers seem to perform but think Frankfurt have the edge here.

Frankfurt to win in 90 mins: 13/10

Astonishingly, Frankfurt comes into this game with one player who has scored more in the Europa League than in the Bundesliga this season. Now, this would be normal for a centre-back who doesn't get many goals but not for Daichi Kamada, the midfielder who has risen through the ranks at Frankfurt and started the season on the substitute bench more often than not. The Bundesliga season is over but one last game can push these Frankfurt players into the history books and what would summarise their season more than one of their rising stars to score on the big occasion.

Daichi Kamada to score: 3/1

If Rangers are to get something from this game, it'll be their captain, their top goalscorer in the Europa League this season - James Tavernier. After not scoring in the group stages, Tavernier has scored against every opponent in the knockout stages and has been a large part of the success of Rangers this season. As he is their main set-piece taker, a goal for Tavernier at this price is astounding.

James Tavernier to score: 19/5

Rangers Europa League Journey

3rd Qualifying Round

Armenian outfit Alashkert proved to be a more difficult opposition than Steven Gerrard's side had imagined as they caused issues for Rangers across the two legs. Ultimately, an Alfredo Morelos strike after some excellent work from James Tavernier was enough to win the tie for the Glaswegian side.

Group Stage

Rangers kicked off their Europa League campaign with back-to-back defeats against Lyon and Sparta Prague. Lyon's victory remains the only team in the Europa League to beat Rangers at Ibrox and it was ultimately, two 2-0 victories over Brondby and Prague that secured Rangers' qualification to the knockout rounds. An impressive draw away to Lyon secured Rangers' place in the next round, leaving Sparta rueing a 0-0 draw with Brondby on the opening day.

Knockout Round: Play-Offs

After being drawn with Borussia Dortmund, very few would have predicted that Rangers would have progressed through that game, next mind made the Europa League final. However, after going 3-0 up after 49 minutes in Dortmund, the yellow wall was left crumbled. Goals from Jude Bellingham and Raphael Guerrero either side of a Dan-Axel Zagadou own-goal gave Borussia Dortmund hope as they headed to Ibrox. However, very few players have had the impact that James Tavernier has had in Europe this season with the English right wing-back scoring twice at Ibrox as Rangers held European giants Borussia Dortmund.

Knockout Round: Round of 16

After defeating Dortmund, Rangers were treated to a potential banana skin in the form of Serbian outfit, Red Star Belgrade. This was the first time that Rangers had been favourites to progress in the Europa League. In previous years, Red Star had been under-estimated by Liverpool and Napoli and picked up good results at home, so it was important that Rangers took the initiative in the first leg. Fortunately for their fanbase, that's exactly what they did. Tavernier scored once again from the penalty spot and Morelos doubled their lead at the 15-minute mark. A further strike from Leon Balogun gave Rangers a 3-0 lead going to Belgrade. However, they got off to the worst possible start conceding after 10 minutes. Rangers held firm from then on, with a counter-attack culminating in Ryan Kent grabbing his first goal in the Europa League this season. El Fardou Ben Nabouhane's late strike gave Belgrade the lead late on but it was nothing more than a consolation as Rangers progressed.

Knockout Round: Quarter-Finals

Rangers' trip to Braga was uneventful at best. However, that is exactly how the Scottish side would have wanted it. Unfortunately, Abel Ruiz's strike left them 1-0 down as they took the game to Ibrox. Once again, Ibrox was the telling factor for Rangers as Tavernier gave them the lead within two minutes before doubling with a penalty just before half-time after Vitor Tormena was sent off for the visitors. From that point, many thought Rangers had guaranteed their place in the Semi-Finals but centre-back David Carmo had other ideas with the 6 foot 5 giant heading home with 7 minutes to play. This took the game to extra time as Braga looked to hold on. Their resilience was broken just after 100 minutes, as a good passing move was finished off by Kemar Roofe who fired Rangers into the Semi-Final.

Knockout Round: Semi-Finals

Rangers' trip to Leipzig very much resembled their trip to Braga as they held out and almost came away with a good away result. Rangers know that if they can get back to Ibrox one goal down, they've got an excellent opportunity to progress in the Europa League. Unfortunately, Ibrox won't be a factor in the final but it certainly got them to the final as Angelino sent Leipzig to Glasgow ahead, they were behind in just 24 minutes. Tavernier scored once again in the 19th minute before Glen Kamara's composed effort from outside the box put Rangers ahead for the first time in the tie. However, Christopher Nkunku scored to put Leipzig level and Ibrox rose to the call of arms with John Lundstram's late half-volley sending Rangers to paradise on May 18th.

Eintracht Frankfurt Europa League Journey

Group Stage

Despite a horrific start to the season, Eintracht Frankfurt finished at the top of a commendable group, beating Olympiacos in back-to-back games and remaining undefeated in the rest of their fixtures. Antwerp were the only side they were expected to beat comfortably but they narrowly avoided defeat against the Belgian club in Frankfurt with a 90+3 goal sparing their blushes. These gruelling trips to Greece, Turkey and Belgium would come in handy for their knockout fixtures where they were very much underdogs.

Round of 16

When Frankfurt were drawn against Real Betis the Spanish side sat in third in La Liga, Frankfurt were 10th in the Bundesliga. On paper, Betis were virtually already through to the semi-finals. However, as we’ve learned throughout this competition, the German side have the potential to be incredibly dangerous on the counter-attack, they look the lead through Filip Kostic and only took two minutes to re-take the lead after Betis equalised through Nabil Fekir to round up a hectic first half. However, it wasn’t until the 90th minute of the second leg that we’d see the next goal as Fekir turned provider for Borja Iglesias who poked home from close range.

Into extra time, the game looked destined for penalties until the last kick of the game, where Frankfurt whipped the ball into the box, Joel Robles came out, clashed with the Frankfurt striker with the ball hitting midfielder Guido Rodriguez and looping into the Spaniard’s goal, giving Frankfurt perhaps the strangest last-minute winner in the competition.

Quarter-Final

When the draw was announced, very few people saw Eintracht Frankfurt progressing to the semi-finals, Barcelona were a force to be reckoned with and had just dismantled Real Madrid 4-0. They were Europa League favourites and nobody could argue with that fact, except Oliver Glasner and his team, Frankfurt took the lead on home soil through on-loan winger Ansgar Knauff. However, a fine leveller from Ferran Torres brought the two teams to the Nou Camp level. That’s when the game became unpredictable with defender Eric Garcia bringing down Jesper Lindstrom so Kostic could put the Germans in front from the spot. Frankfurt remained dangerous on the counter-attack and a rocket of an effort from Rafael Borre gave them a two-goal advantage. Barcelona pressed and missed a number of chances before once again, Kostic struck the ball beyond Ter Stegen to send the 30,000+ Frankfurt fans in attendance into raptures. Sergio Busquets thought he gave Barcelona hope in the 81st minute but he was stood offside as he tapped home following a corner. He managed to give the Catalans hope in the 90th minute after rocketing the ball home beyond the keeper but it was nothing but a consolation. That was until the 99th minute where N’Dicka went into a header too strongly giving Barcelona a penalty kick and reducing Frankfurt to ten men, Memphis Depay scored but Barcelona couldn’t prevent Frankfurt from picking up a famous win at the Nou Camp.

Semi-Finals

Once again, Eintracht Frankfurt came into this tie as the underdogs they faced heavy favourites West Ham and perhaps rode their luck at the London Stadium but the important thing is that they walked away victorious thanks to goals from Ansgar Knauff and Daichi Kamada. That came either side of a Michail Antonio equaliser.

In the second leg, West Ham came into the game knowing that they had to win but they heavily favoured the counter-attack which fell into Frankfurt's hands as they could hold onto the ball, press when they lost it and recapture possession. Aaron Cresswell's red card early on came as Frankfurt launched a long ball in behind the West Ham defence but the winning goal - scored by Rafael Santos Borre as Frankfurt won the ball back high up the pitch, passed accurately down the wing and threaded a ball across for the Columbian to hammer home.