Villarreal Secure A Europa League Semi-Final Spot

VILLARREAL Beat Dinamo Zagreb To Secure A Europa League Semi-Final Spot 

Villarreal played their quarter-final second-leg Europa League 2021 tie against Dinamo Zagreb this evening, Thursday 15, at La Ceramica, already one goal up from the match in Croatia last week, and a 2-1 victory tonight saw Villarreal secure semi-finals match with Arsenal, from England.

The yellow submarines now carry the hopes of Spain alone in this competition, after Spain had two teams in the last eight, but Granada bowed out against Manchester United in one of the other quarter-finals, but a good omen for their semi-final is that the Europa League competition is something of a speciality for their coach Unai Emery, having already won it three times with Sevilla.

With the away goal already in the bag from the first leg, Emery’s men did a good job against the Croatians tonight, going ahead after 36 minutes through Alcacer, before Moreno put them 2-0 up, and really put the match to bed, though Mislav Orsic did pull a goal back with a penalty on 74 minutes, but by that time it was always going to be too late for any comeback.

The semi-final with Arsenal will see Emery face his old club, as he told Marca after the match, “We’re happy. It was a challenge, but the progress we’ve made in the Europa League has been serious, and we’re hitting a higher level every time. We’ve taken the game where we feel most comfortable, deactivating it here and in Zagreb”.

Adding, “Reaching the semi-final is a challenge, something Villarreal has already done. Breaking the barrier of the semi-finals is a great challenge. The idea of reaching the Champions League through the Europa League is important. This competition is becoming more and more important. My past at Arsenal is less important”, as reported by football-espana.net.