The 2020/21 UEFA Europa League continues this week and on Thursday the 18th of March we have the second leg between Dinamo Zagreb and Tottenham Hotspur. The match will be played at the Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb.
Dinamo Zagreb come into the match with the news their manager has had his jail term for fraud confirmed. Zoran Mamic has quit the job following the news Croatia's supreme court said he has to serve four years and eight months in prison.
🇭🇷 Next up: Dinamo Zagreb (A)#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/x9v2mTeNsG— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 16, 2021
🇭🇷 Next up: Dinamo Zagreb (A)#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/x9v2mTeNsG
In a statement on the Dinamo Zagreb website, Mamic said, “Although I don't feel guilty, I resign as I said before I would do if the sentence was confirmed”.
Damir Krznar has taken on the role of head coach and his first task will be to try and overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg against Tottenham Hotspur.
Having suffered defeat in London, Dinamo Zagreb quickly returned to winning ways in the Croatian league as they defeated Varaždin 5-0 away from home.
Their home record in the Europa League is extremely good and Dinamo Zagreb are undefeated in their last 13 Europa League fixtures at the Stadion Maksimir.
They have managed to find the back of the net in 6 of their last 7 Europa League games on home soil and have conceded only 2 goals in their last 8 home Europa League matches.
Tottenham Hotspur travel to Croatia on the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League on the weekend. Spurs opened the scoring in the game thanks to a tremendous goal from Erik Lamela but conceded the equaliser just before half time. Spurs struggled to get going in the second half and Arsenal claimed maximum points courtesy of a penalty.
Spurs will be keen to get back to winning ways immediately following the defeat against their North London rivals. They are currently on a 7 match unbeaten run in the Europa League and have lost only one of their last 6 away from home in the competition.
Spurs have been scoring plenty of goals away from home in the Europa League and have netted 3 or more goals in 4 of their last 5 games on the road.
Team news and Dinamo Zagreb will be without Sadegh Moharrami but he is the only player unavailable to the hosts. Left-back Josko Gvardial could come into the team for Marin Leovac.
Spurs travel without Son Heung-Min, who was injured on the weekend. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is suspended and there are doubts over the fitness of Giovani Lo Celso. Carlos Vinicius, Dele Alli, Harry Winks, and Ben Davies could all start.
Spurs know they do not have to do anything exceptional to progress to the quarter final. The onus is on Dinamo Zagreb to attack and Spurs can sit back and hit them on the break. Therefore, if Spurs keep things tight, they could come away with a narrow one goal victory.