Two teams will clarify this evening, which in two weeks in Basel will aim their guns for the Europa League champions trophy. At 22:05, their most important matches of the season so far will feature "Liverpool" and "Villarreal" and "Sevilla" and "Shakhtar" teams. The review of these matches is presented to you by "Eurofootball.com".
"Liverpool" - "Villarreal"
First leg result: 0-1
Jurgen Klopp has proven this season that the Europa League is the most important tournament for the "Liverpool" team. He has rested key players in the "Premier League" matches multiple times in order for them to be fully prepared for the most important Europa League matches. However, this time their opponents can afford the same luxury - "Villarreal" already knows that they will finish the season in fourth place in "La Liga", so the main goal for the "submarines" at the end of the season is the Europa League champions trophy.
Both teams have been performing steadily in the Europa League tournament - "Villarreal" lost only the first Europa League group match and then did not lose in 12 consecutive matches, winning nine of them. The defeat in the first leg of the semifinals was the first in this season's Europa League for "Liverpool", so Klopp's players are traveling to the second leg for the first time lagging behind their opponents.
Team news:
"Liverpool":
Emre Can recently surprised everyone when he recovered from an ankle ligament injury faster than expected and returned to team training. It is believed that the German can fight for a place in the starting "Liverpool" eleven.
Klopp made eight changes over the weekend compared to the Europa League matches, and only Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren, and Philippe Coutinho started both matches. Daniel Sturridge played the full 90 minutes against "Swansea", which suggests that the striker will be left on the bench tonight.
Predicted starting lineup: Mignolet; Moreno, Clyne, Toure, Lovren; Can, Milner, Allen; Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana.
"Villarreal":
The team coach Marcelino Garcia Toral confirmed that all his players are healthy and he has 22 footballers to choose from for Thursday's match. This means that Eric Bailly and Leo Baptistao recovered from their knee injuries, which prevented them from helping their team in the weekend match against "Valencia".
Roberto Soldado was the only one who played in both last Thursday and Sunday, while the "submarines" made ten changes within their ranks. It is believed that today the guests will present a more common lineup, with a more commonly used 4-4-2 formation.
Predicted starting lineup: Asenjo; Gaspar, Bailly, Ruiz, Costa; dos Santos, Bruno, Pina, Suarez; Soldado, Bakambu.
Key facts before the match:
..."Sevilla" - "Shakhtar"
First leg result: 2-2
The defending champions "Sevilla" will try to do everything to reach the Europa League final for the third consecutive season. In the first leg match, they played a productive 2-2 draw away, so in order to eliminate the champions from the Europa League, "Shakhtar" will have to score at least two goals in this match, or win.
Interestingly, both teams qualified for the Europa League through the Champions League group stages, finishing third, so they started the tournament from the knockout stage. "Shakhtar" has not yet faced major problems in the Europa League - they defeated all three opponents with at least a three-goal difference. On the other hand, "Sevilla" had serious problems in the quarterfinals and barely managed to beat another Spanish team - "Athletic Bilbao", only after a penalty shootout.
Team news:
"Sevilla":
In the last Spanish league match, coach Unai Emery showed that the preparation for the Europa League match is the top priority for the club. The team changed the entire starting lineup and failed to beat "Espanyol", losing 0-1.
Michael Krohn-Dehli suffered a serious injury in the first leg match in Ukraine, and today he will have to watch his team's performance from the stands. There are also doubts about Jose Antonio Reyes's chances of playing in this match. In defense, Timothee Kolodziejczak got permission to train and participate in matches after a head injury, but Benoit Tremoulinas should still not be included in the lineup.
Predicted starting lineup: Soria; Mariano, Rami, Carrico, Escudero; Krychowiak, N'Zonzi; Vitolo, Banega, Konoplyanka; Gameiro.
"Shakhtar":
Despite playing against their main rivals from Kiev, "Dynamo" in the weekend, "Shakhtar" also tried to rotate the team. However, this didn't stop them from winning a highly charged match filled with emotions and conflicts, defeating the opponents 3-0.
Ukraine's team will be without the suspended Fred and the recovering Marcio Azevedo. Darijo Srna, Aleksandr Gladkiy, and Dentinho missed Sunday's match and trained individually, trying to recover from their minor injuries and fully prepare for Thursday's Europa League match.
Predicted starting lineup: Pyatov; Srna, Kucher, Rakitskiy, Ismaily; Malyshev, Stepanenko; Marlos, Kovalenko, Taison; Ferreyra.
Key facts before the match:
...Tautvydas Sakalauskas
