Although Dinamo Zagreb bring a decent sequence of recent results into this 1st leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie against Villarreal, the Croatian hosts may be stretched to the limit against their Spanish counterparts even though they’re at their Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb for this tie.
11 wins out of their last 13 matches in all competitions should give Dinamo Zagreb plenty of confidence though ahead of this last-eight clash with their La Liga opponents.
FT | 90'+4 Šibenik - Dinamo 1:1 (Majer) #dinamozagreb📷 Ante Čizmić/CROPIX pic.twitter.com/RVmcttOgsl— GNK Dinamo (@gnkdinamo) April 3, 2021
FT | 90'+4 Šibenik - Dinamo 1:1 (Majer) #dinamozagreb📷 Ante Čizmić/CROPIX pic.twitter.com/RVmcttOgsl
Particularly as they disposed of Premier League side, Tottenham, in dramatic fashion in the previous round.
Dinamo Zagreb had earlier finished top of Group K some four points ahead of 2nd placed Wolfsberger thanks to remaining unbeaten throughout the group stages, winning four and drawing two.
The hosts also possess a promising set of results in the Europa League too as they’ve won seven of their last eight ties overall along with being unbeaten in their last 14 ties at home and they beat Villarreal 2-0 in their last meeting at home in the Europa League back in 2010 but a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.
Villarreal also finished top of their respective Group I with a five-point margin over 2nd placed Maccabi Tel-Aviv, winning five and drawing just once as the La Liga club overpowered their opponents to cruise through the group stages.
The visitors also bring a five-match winning streak in all competitions into this upcoming Europa League quarter-final 1st leg tie which includes home and away wins over Ukrainian outfit, Dynamo Kyiv, while results in the Europa League overall have also been impressive in recent times too.
Villarreal have won nine out of their last 10 ties overall in this competition with eight of these wins also producing 2 goals or more for the visitors with the likes of Alcacer (4 goals) and Baena (2 goals) chipping in with the majority of the goals to date.
The Spanish visitors have also been tough to beat on their travels at this level too as they’ve lost just once in their last 11 ties on the road, winning six of these and together with six clean sheets within this 11-match period too.
Villarreal look a tough unit to break down away from home and they won 3-0 in the last meeting against Dinamo Zagreb too.