VILLARREAL are in a very strong position to cruise through to the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday when they defend a 1-0 lead in Spain aginst Dinamo Zagreb.
Gerard Moreno's penalty was the least the La Liga side deserved from that first leg in the Maksimir Stadium and there looked to be an obvious gulf in class between the sides.
That was Villarreal's 20th match without a loss in European competition against non-Spanish opposition and the Yellow Submarine are dark horses to lift the trophy themselves.
Zagreb had a formidable home record ahead of the first leg, but they were bossed by a Villarreal side who had over 60 per cent of possession in Croatia.
They did get back into winning ways at the weekend with a win against city rivals and bottom side Lokomotiva Zagreb and Villarreal ended an impressive run of six wins in a row when they surprisingly went down to a shock defeat to Osasuna.
But Unai Emery's side will be supremely confident of completing the job at the El Madrigal, where they boast a perfect record of five wins out of five this season.
How the bookies view it
Despite Zagreb's requirement to win, bookies still make the hosts warm favourites at 49/100 with Tonybet. The draw is 16/5 with Hill's and you can get 7/1 for a Croatian win with bet365.
Recent head to heads
Apart from that 1-0 win in Zagreb last week, the clubs met in the 2010 Europa League and both sides won their home games. Villarreal won 3-0 in Spain and Dinamo triumphed 2-0 in Croatia.
Players to watch
We backed Moreno to score in Croatia at 9/5 anytime and he duly obliged. The Spanish international is in the form of his life at the moment and that weekend defeat to Osasuna was his first game in six that he hadn't scored for club or country – he netted a tally of eight goals in that spell and you shouldn't have any qualms about backing him again at 6/5 with Paddy Power to score again.
Zagreb weren't able to start Bruno Petkovic in the first leg and he was only fit enough to be a sub. He could be unleashed this time though from the start and is 5/1 with SBK to score anytime.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's very hard to see anything other than Villarreal completing the job and they could do it in style. They've been leading at the interval in their last three Europa League games and an early goal could knock the stuffing out of Zagreb. The 5/4 with 888Sport for them to be winning at half time and full time is solid.
There were 13 corners in the first leg of what was expected to be a cagey affair and the 7/4 for over 10/5 corners with Paddy Powers is a nice price.
This UEFA Europa League match between Villarreal and Dinamo Zagreb will be played on Apr 15, 2021 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Villarreal vs Dinamo Zagreb prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
