Dinamo Zagreb and Villarreal will lock horns at Stadion Maksimir in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final on Thursday. The kick-off is at 21:00 CET.

Preview

Dinamo had made the impossible last month when they defeated Tottenham 3-0 in Zagreb affter losing 2-0 in the EL last-16 first leg to make it to the competition's quarter-finals. What's more, the Croats did it without their head coach Zoran Mamic who was sent to jail for fraud a few days prior to that game. Damir Krznar, who has replaced Mamic in the dugout, has led Dinamo to a narrow win over Gorica and most recently a 1-1 draw with Sibenik in the Croatian top flight since defeating Spurs.

Villarreal, in turn, have won each of their previous five games across all competitions, including both 2-0 victories over Dynamo Kyiv in the previous stage of the Europa League and a 3-0 win over Granada in La Liga on Saturday.

Team news

Mislav Orsic, who scored a hat-trick against Tottenham last month, is set to start again on Thursday while Unai Every will have to cope with the absence of Pervis Estupinan and Vicente Iborra.

Prediction

Well, Villarreal certainly won't underestimate Dinamo after the latter club's heroics against Spurs. The Yellow Submarine have been in a great form over the past few weeks and thus we'd say that Emery's side is likely to take an advantage over the Croats ahead of the return leg in Spain next week. Moreover, Gerard Moreno netted a hat-trick against Granada over the weekend and will be looking to improve his record this time around.

Tip

Villarreal to win at 2.05 with 1XBET.