The first leg is done and dusted, and we welcome more UEFA Europa League action with open arms as the clubs involved look to take up theirs and go to battle this Thursday.
Tournament favourites Manchester United sit comfortably with two away goals when they see least favourite’s Granada visit Old Trafford for the first time.
The coach that loves winning the UEFA Europa League, Unai Emery, looks to take Villarreal to their third semi-final in the competition with an away goal in hand.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal looked to have scored a late winner but struggled to hold on for the remaining embers of the first leg, giving an away goal to Slavia Praha which sets the stage for a difficult fixture in Czechoslovakia for the London based outfit.
Finally, the only hope left for Italian football in Europe, AS Roma, welcome their stiff competition Ajax, who look to overturn a 2-1 home defeat in the biggest ask of the quarter-final second leg.
Thursday 15 April
Slavia Prague 32/10
Draw 26/10
Arsenal 17/20
(21:00)
Both sides are tied 1-1 on aggregate.
Arsenal thought they had won the game late on as Nicolas Pepe came off the bench to dink home an 86th minute goal, but Slavia Praha scored an injury-time equalizer to give them an all-important away goal. In 2007, the Gunners’ home match saw previous manager Arsene Wenger master plan a seven-goal demolishing of the Red and Whites but failed to score in a 0-0 result when they made the trip to Sinobo Stadium. Slavia Praha have yet to lose at their stadium this season, but Arsenal’s quality players at their best will close the curtains in this quarter-final. Put money behind Arteta to steer his team to victory.
Villarreal 9/20
Draw 31/10
Dinamo Zagreb 6/1
(21:00)
Villarreal lead 1-0 on aggregate.
Villarreal started brightly, but the momentum changed hands when centre-back Theophile-Catherine missed Dinamo Zagreb’s biggest chance when he headed wide from a corner, before being denied a goal that was ruled offside during Zagreb’s celebrations. Gerard Moreno converted a penalty a minute before half-time that proved to be the deciding goal for the first leg. Unai Emery’s Yellow Submarines are obvious favourites to win their home fixture. The Spanish team are unbeaten in the competition this season and have won every home fixture, keeping three cleansheets out of five at the Estadio de la Ceramica. The stronger Spanish outfit in the quarters are my banker bet; back them to Win and Over 1.5 Goals at 17/20.
Manchester United 9/20
Draw 33/10
Granada 58/10
(21:00)
Manchester United lead 2-0 on aggregate.
Marcus Rashford put Manchester United in the lead when he superbly collected Victor Lindelof’s cross-field pass to slide the ball passed Granada goalkeeper Rui Silva, before the icing on the cake when Portuguese star Bruno Fernandes was awarded and converted a penalty in the 88th minute. The Red Devils are still firm favourites with two away goals in the pocket to close the show when they welcome Granada to the infamous Old Trafford. Yet the yellow cards received by Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, and Scott McTominay leaves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer without his first choice left-back and midfielder as well as the club captain. In football, and this late in the competition you can never label a tie ‘all wrapped up’, but the task at hand for the La Liga outfit will be too much to bare. Ole will want to put this one to bed early, expect a first-half goal and back United on the Half-time/Full-time double at 11/10.
AS Roma 17/10
Draw 11/4
Ajax 27/20
(21:00)
AS Roma lead 2-1 on aggregate.
AS Roma vs Ajax was always going to be an eventful affair, and this fixture produced ‘the goods.’ Spirits were high going into half-time when Ajax netted a well-worked goal between Dusan Tadic and Davy Klassen in the 38th minute. The gate to the semi-finals seemed to open up and subsequently close for Ajax when captain Tadic won and failed to convert a penalty early in the second-half. Young goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen, on his European debut, made an error to allow an equalizer, which handed Roma the momentum, and lead to a smashing volley by defender Ibanez da Silva, via a corner, in the dying minutes. The away team take two valuable away goals back to the Stadio Olimpico where The She-Wolf have not been defeated in this European campaign and Paulo Fonseca’s boys have scored a goal or more in 10 of their 11 Europa League fixtures. AS Roma will take the victory in this close encounter.
QUAD @ 18/1
Arsenal Win 17/20
Villarreal Win & Over 1.5 17/20
Man United Half-time/Full-time 11/10
AS Roma Win 17/10
Written by Joshua Gaillard