Europa League 24/25 Return Leg Preview

Last weekend’s first legs really gave the advantage to the English teams with an all-English final highly likely now. Tottenham won their home leg 3-1 and that should be more than enough against Bodø, although the away goal gives the surprise team some hope ahead of their home fixture.

Manchester United’s impressive, and also unexpected 3-0 away win in Bilbao means that they should be able to control the second leg and it would take a significant collapse for them to not make it to the final. With the final itself being held in Bilbao, the Spanish side will be disappointed by the result and performance in the first leg, especially as they have such a strong home record overall. With Chelsea also performing well in their Conference League semi-final, it seems to be highly likely that there will be three finalists out of four in these two competitions, an impressive achievement. Tottenham will be well aware that they have beaten Manchester United home and away in the league this season and will not be worried about taking them on again in what would be a high stakes final, as both teams know that this is their only chance to salvage something from what has been a poor season for both teams. 

The current odds favour an all English final, with the two first legs going heavily in favour of Manchester United and Tottenham, it would be a surprise if either Athletic Bilbao or Bodø managed to get through to the showpiece event next May.

Bodø vs Tottenham

Aspmyra Stadium, Thursday @ 21:00

The last minute goal for Bodø at the Tottenham stadium last week means that this tie isn’t over completely as the Scandinavian side now have home advantage in their compact stadium. This is their first semi-final appearance and they will be hoping to make the most of home advantage once again, as they have done many times throughout this competition. A comeback win in this tie will make them the first Norwegian team to reach any European final. Last week’s defeat in London was the fourth in as many meetings against English opposition, including a loss in the group stage against Manchester United, a potential final opponent. They are on a six game winning run at home across all competitions, including a 2-0 win over Lazio, so the tie isn’t over yet. 

Tottenham will do well to be careful heading into this match given Bodø’s form at home but they will be confident of getting the job done. It seems that one of last week’s goalscorers, James Maddison, will be unavailable for Ange Postecoglu but there is better news when it comes to Dominic Solanke and possibly even club captain Son Heung-min. Manager Postecoglu’s previous visit to this stadium resulted in a 2-0 defeat for his Celtic team in 2022, so he will certainly be going for a better result this time around. Brennan Johnson scored the fastest ever goal in the EL semi-final last week, finding the net after just 39 seconds, so his team mates will be looking to get him involved again this time. Tottenham will be hoping to carry on their good record of progressing through knockout ties when winning the first leg, having done so on 18 of their last 21 occasions.

Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao

Old Trafford, Thursday @ 21:00

Manchester United will be delighted going into this home semi-final with a three goal advantage from the first leg. Not many would have imagined a convincing 3-0 away win in such a tricky stadium, but the match went in their favour and they took full advantage with one of their best performances of the season. Now they must finish the job in order to make it to a final that they will be favourites to win. A calm first half will go a long way and the one thing they must avoid is conceding early, which will give the visiting team extra motivation. United are unbeaten in Europe this season, with eight wins and five draws so far, in stark contrast to their league form. They fell to yet another loss last weekend, losing at Brentford, despite a late spirited comeback. It is worth noting that it was a much changed United team last weekend, but one worry will have been the fact that Matias De Ligt limped off with an injury, making him highly doubtful for this match. The fact United conceded four goals at the weekend will worry their fans, but Athletic were themselves held to a 0-0 draw against Sociedad. 

The visitors have failed to win in their last three away matches and they have also lost seven of their previous nine visits to England, so history is not on their side. Their solitary victory did come at Old Trafford though, back in 2012. The odds are firmly against them here but they have the firepower to score a goal or two and certainly felt hard done by last week, so will be looking to put in a strong performance here. Should they manage to turn the result around and qualify for the final they will be only the second side to progress to the next round of a European competition having lost the first leg by three or more goals.

Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.

Last updated: 07.05.25