Two of the more unfancied teams remaining in the Europa League meet on Thursday night as Granada take on Molde at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes.
Granada come into the game having lost 2-1 at Athletic Club in La Liga on the weekend. That result leaves them 10th in the table but too far adrift to challenge for the European qualifying positions this season.
📺 Así fue la sesión de este martes. Mañana ultimamos detalles también en la Ciudad Deportiva. #EternaLucha #GranadaMolde pic.twitter.com/atqzjDqPvq— Granada CF ❤️⚪️ (@GranadaCdeF) March 9, 2021
📺 Así fue la sesión de este martes. Mañana ultimamos detalles también en la Ciudad Deportiva. #EternaLucha #GranadaMolde pic.twitter.com/atqzjDqPvq
That defeat at Athletic Club means Granada have lost 3 of their last 4 matches in all competitions.
The additional defeats have come at Huesca in La Liga and Napoli in the Europa League but the 2-1 loss at the latter was enough to see Granada cause a shock and progress in the competition.
The 2-0 victory over Napoli in the first leg gave Granada a cushion for the trip to Italy and scoring the goal away from home proved enough to win the tie on aggregate.
Granada have proven difficult to beat in the Europa League and they have lost only 2 of their 11 most recent games in the competition. The Spanish club have played 5 Europa League games at home, winning 3 and losing one.
They have managed to keep 3 clean sheets in those 5 fixtures and will be hoping for more of the same in this game.
Molde make the trip to Spain having last played in this competition on the 25th of February. The Norwegian club faced a difficult tie against German team Hoffenheim but having been held to a 3-3 draw at home in the first leg, Molde produced a tremendous performance in the second leg to win 2-0 in Germany.
It is worth pointing out that the first leg of this tie was played in Spain, so Molde were at a disadvantage yet still managed to progress.
Molde’s domestic league season finished in December and they were second in the Eliteserien. Since then, Molde have been playing friendly matches.
Form in the Europa League shows Molde have been difficult to beat in recent games having remained undefeated in their last 4 in the competition.
They have lost only one of their last 4 Europa League matches away from home but have picked up just 2 victories from their last 6 games on the road.
Team news and Granada have a long list of absentees. Neyder Lozano, Luis Milla, Luis Javier Suárez, Alberto Soro, Darwin Machis, Jesús Vallejo, Carlos Neva, Maxime Gonalons, and Pepe Sánchez could all miss out due to injury.
Molde are expected to be without the injured duo of Ola Brynhildsen and K. Haraldseid.
Granada have managed to perform above expectations in the Europa League this season and could continue their good form with a victory in this game.
However, we expect to see under 2.5 goals scored and the possibility of a narrow 1-0 win for the hosts.