Villarreal – Olympique Lyonnais

Villarreal welcomes Olympique Lyonnais in a second leg from the UEFA Europa League 1/16-finals. The French team have a solid advantage after the first leg.

The first game at the Groupama Stadium in Lyonnais ended with a 3-1 win for the home team. Tanguy NDombele, Nabil Fekir and Memphis Depay scored the goals for the French side, while Pablo Fornais kept some of Villarreal’s chances alive.

Now the Spanish team is in a very complicated situation. Villarreal have to score goals at the El Madrigal, but they also must be careful not to concede any. And it’s difficult thing to do, when you face a team with so much offensive talent as Olympique Lyonnais.

A 2-0 win would allow Villarreal to continue to the 1/16-finals, while a 3-1 win would allow them to play extra time. But if Lyonnais score more than one goal, then it would be almost impossible for the Spaniards to go through.

In the Spanish La Liga Villarreal are currently 6th with 38 points. They have a record of 11 wins, 5 draws and 8 defeats. In their last five games the Yellow Submarine won twice, lost twice and made one draw – in their last game against Espanyol.

Meanwhile Olympique Lyonnais continues the fight for a Champions League qualification. They are 4th in the French Ligue 1, trailing on 6 points behind the 3rd Olympique Marseille. This means that Lyonnais must be almost perfect until the end of the season, if they want to finish in the Top 3 of the French league.

This is an interesting clash between two very good teams from strong leagues. Both Villarreal and Olympique Lyonnais have the potential to do something significant in Europa League, but now one of them will have to leave the competition.