Conference League, Playoffs, 2nd leg, Thursday, 20/02/2025 at 21:00
They have sneaked into the playoffs with eight points, now they don’t just want to get a taste of the knockout phase! In my Panathinaikos Athens Vikingur Reykjavik betting tip, I am now dealing with a club that has not yet really caught the eye in Europe.
The Icelanders won the first leg by a narrow margin and now have to defend a 2-1 lead in the Greek capital. The bookmakers are extremely skeptical, so I dare to venture so far out on a limb that I can say: a handicap of +3 is enough for the underdog to “win” – but not necessarily to advance!
Vikingur Reykjavik, a team that you haven’t really noticed yet, I suspect. The Icelanders are desperate to make it to the knockout phase of the Conference League, which nobody expected of them.
Admittedly, anyone who loves beautiful, fast, combination football will probably shake their heads briefly when reading about the opponents Vikingur had to play in the group stage.
Omonia Nikosia, Cercle Brügge, Banja Luka, der FC Noah, Djurgarden und der Linzer ASK – diese Namen könnten nun wirklich prominenter klingen! Vikingur aber war es natürlich gerade recht, dass kein Kracher unter den Konkurrenten war.
After a 4-0 defeat to Nicosia in the first leg, they won both the second legs against Bruges (3-1) and Banja Luka (2-0), and took the 0-0 draw against Noah with them. 1-2 against Djurgarden and 1-1 against LASK, in the end Reykjavik somehow made it into these playoffs.
Against Panathinaikos, they were already the clear underdogs in the first leg, but although, as expected, the game was given to the Greeks in terms of possession and control of the game, the small club from Iceland kept the upper hand in the decisive situations.
They won 2-1 – and were still annoyed after the final whistle! The reason: a penalty was conceded in injury time, which could of course prove costly in the final reckoning next Thursday.
The fact that the first leg ended in an unexpected victory was probably also due to the fact that Vikingur were allowed to play at home. They are much stronger in their own stadium, having won all three matches in the current competition here.
Incidentally, Vikingur would be even more successful if the matches were to be stopped after the first 45 minutes! The team has only conceded two goals in the first half and has never been behind.
The “double chance X2” after half one pays off for you, because the bet gets you great odds of 2.37 at Bet365!
For comparison: After the break, the Icelanders conceded seven goals. With one goal in three away games, the team has of course not shown its best side, and significantly, the one goal against LASK was also scored from the penalty spot.
That’s why you can bet on Vikingur scoring on Thursday, no matter when or how often, on the Bet365 app. The odds are almost 2.00! And speaking of odds, the guest is definitely not favored.
The odds of a victory are on average 15.0 to 1.20, but when it comes purely to advancing, I find odds of 3.90 to 1.25. Panathinaikos Athens is the clear favorite, who cannot afford to be eliminated.
The Greeks were quite surprised in the first leg, but to be honest, I was only partially convinced by their preliminary round. It can be divided into two halves, one successful and the other not at all.
1:1 against Banja Luka, 1:4 against Chelsea, 1:2 against Djurgaden, at first it looked quite bleak. The 1-0 win over Helsinki was a bit more encouraging, and Panathinaikos followed up with victories against The New Saints (2-0) and Dinamo Minsk (4-0).
What I find very interesting here is the fact that in all seven CL games this season, there has been exactly one goal before half-time – five times it was a lead, twice a deficit!
At Interwetten, you might want to consider betting on a 1-0 half-time lead for Athens, with odds as high as 3.15. And don’t forget: the last three games in which Panathinaikos led 1-0 all ended in victory.
Can Panathinaikos Athens once again cleverly extricate themselves from a tricky situation on Thursday? The first leg against Vikingur Reykjavik was definitely not their best performance, so they need to turn things around at home.
Unfortunately, I have not been particularly impressed by the Icelanders away from home, but they improved considerably after their opening defeat against Omonia Nikosia. I therefore don’t think that they will let themselves be shot in Athens.
Panathinaikos cheated their way through the group stage, and now have the pressure on their side. That’s why I decided on a rather narrow game outcome and bet:
A 3-0 handicap helps Vikingur to “win”!
