Football Results

On Thursday evening we will know all teams that qualified for the round of 16 of the Europa League when all 2nd legs of first round of knockout phase will finish. There has been several surprising results in it including this one between French Lyon and Spanish Villarreal as the French team won at home by sound 3-1, but that doesn’t mean much since the Yellow Submarine is very much capable to annul the backlog in front of its fiery fans.

Villarreal

Villarreal’s main problem at the moment is very weak form. Villarreal won just one point from last three league matches, which happened last weekend when they faced Espanyol away. Before that the Yellow Submarine lost two times in a row, to Betis and Alaves, and on top of it came defeat by Lyon in the 1st leg of the round of 32. That puts a lot of pressure on the team ahead of this Europa League match.

However, Villarreal fans believe that their team can annul minus of two goals from Lyon, especially as it is known that they can make a great atmosphere at their stadium. Regarding situation with the team, manager Cellaja had rested several standard starters in match with Espanyol all with an aim that they be as rest as possible for match with Lyon. We need to add that due to injuries are out of action reserve goalkeeper Fernandez, stopper Semdo, midfielder B. Soriano and forward Sansone.

Probable lineups Villarreal: Asenjo – Gaspar, Gonzalez, Ruiz, Costa – Hernandez, Trigueros – Raba, Fornals, R. Soriano – Bacca

Olympique Lyon

Unlike their Spanish rivals, Lyon players can be far more pleased with outcome of their first match in the Europa League as they won a valuable victory at home 3-1. Of course, the result can be very much annulled but on the other hand in Lyon ranks hope that expected Villarreal’s offensive will open more space for their fast counter-attacks, something that Lyon excels in.

True, Lyon has number of problems in domestic championship recently, where they moved down to the fourth place in the table after four-game winless streak of three defeats and one draw. At the moment Lyon has even six points fewer than Marseille and seven than Monaco. However, everyone in the team is fully focused now on match with Villarreal for which manager Genesio can count on all players expect defender Marcal who is suspended due to accumulated yellow cards.

Probable lineups Olympique Lyon: Lopes – Tete, Marcelo, Morel, Mendy – Tousart, NDombele – Traore, Fekir, Aouar – Diaz

Verdict:

Given minus of two goals from the 1st leg it is expected that Villarreal will play offensively from the first minute, but such tactic will surely leave far more room for Lyon’s fast counter-attacks, which is why we have opted here for a pick with plenty of goals.

Pick:  over 2.5 goals 1.62 - 62/100 @1XBet