4 Europa League Quarter-Final Tips

West Ham are back in European action when they face Lyon in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Thursday night.

The Hammers will be confident of a good result in front of their fans, with another special atmosphere at the London Stadium in store. David Moyes’ men are in decent form as well, with three wins in their last four games in all competitions, including their second-leg triumph over Sevilla in the Round of 16.

The visitors are ninth in Ligue 1, six points off the top five, but returned to winning ways against Angers at the weekend. The French outfit have some good players, such as UEL top scorer Karl Toko-Ekambi, but could struggle to get a result against a strong Hammers side.

Two teams that dropped down to the Europa League from the Champions League meet on Thursday, with Atalanta travelling to Germany to face RB Leipzig.

The hosts will be in good spirits on the back of the huge 4-1 win away to Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday. It means the Red Bulls are now ten games unbeaten in all competitions. Domenico Tedesco’s side certainly know where the goal is, scoring a whopping 15 goals in their last five games.

Atalanta are another side that are prone to feature in heavy-scoring games, such as the 3-1 defeat to Napoli at the weekend. That put an end to La Dea’s four-game unbeaten run, leaving them seventh in Serie A. There have been over 2.5 goals in three of Atalanta’s four UEL games this season.

Barcelona can continue their fine run of form and give themselves an advantage in their quarter-final tie when they take on Eintracht Frankfurt.

The hosts have slipped to ninth in the Bundesliga and have gone four games without a win in all competitions. The 1-1 draw at home to Real Betis in their last Europa League fixture was enough to see them through to the quarter-finals after a 2-1 away win in Spain in the first leg.

Frankfurt face a tougher opponent from Spain on Thursday however, with Barcelona on a 13-game unbeaten run in all competitions – in which they have won ten. The last two of those wins were arguably the biggest, with the massive 4-0 El Classico win away to Real Madrid being followed up by the 1-0 win against Sevilla on Sunday.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been in fantastic form for Xavi’s side since his arrival, with nine goals in his 12 appearances so far.

Rangers continue their Europa League adventure on Thursday when they make the trip to Portugal to face Braga. It may be a difficult game though against a good Braga side.

The Portuguesa outfit can make it three wins in a row in all competitions, following a 3-2 win in their last game against Benfica in the Primeira Liga. Braga booked their place in the Europa League quarterfinals with a 3-1 aggregate win over Monaco in the RO16, winning 2-0 at home in the first leg before a 1-1 draw in the second.

Rangers go into their European tie on the back of a painful Old Firm defeat at home to Celtic

on Sunday. Giovanni van Bronkhorst’s side managed to reach the quarters of the Europa, despite the 2-1 away defeat to Red Star Belgrade in their last UEL game, with a 4-2 aggregate scoreline being enough.