Football Results

This match of the round of 16 of Europa League also attracts a fair deal of attention as both teams are regular in final phase of different European competitions in recent years, French Olympique Lyon and Spanish Villarreal. In the French championship Lyon currently occupies the fourth place, while Villarreal is fifth in the Spanish La Liga. We have to add that this is their first official head-to-head ever.

Olympique Lyon

This Europa League match with Villarreal comes at pretty awkward moment for Lyon as the French team lost three previous league matches in a row. In the same period Lyon only managed to win Montpellier away in the French Cup.  Regarding its mishaps in the Ligue 1, Lyon firstly lost away to Bordeaux and Monaco, and then at home last weekend to Rennes, and right now it has four points fewer than 3rd-placed Marseille and five less than second-placed Monaco.

It means that Lyon must return to winning habits as soon as possible in continuation of season if it wants to stay in the race for positions that lead to the Champions League, where this match of Europa League with Villarreal is a great chance to regain their self-confidence. On top of it, Lyon played fairly well in the group phase of Europa League, and it comes handy for manager Genesio that he cannot count for this match only on injured defender Rafaelo.

Probable lineups Olympique Lyon: Lopes – Tete, Marcelo, Diakhaby, Marcal – Tousart, Aouar – Cornet, Fekir, Depay – Diaz

Villarreal

Ahead of the 1st round of 16 leg of the Europa League the guests from Spain are in a bit bleaker mood, as they lost two previous league matches. Betis firstly defeated them in Seville and then they lost at home to Alaves last weekend. Thanks to previous six-game unbeaten streak of five wins and one draw the Yellow Submarine still occupies high fifth place in La Liga table, although it has now five points fewer than 4th-placed Real Madrid.

On the other hand 6th-placed Sevilla and 7th-placed Eibar have closed in in the meantime on just one and two points, respectively, meaning that manager Calleja players will not have an easy ride in continuation of season. Villarreal has reached the knockout phase of Europa League in similar fashion as Lyon, but at the moment it has far more problems with absences given that on the list are goalkeeper Fernadez, stopper Semedo, midfielders B. Soriano and R. Soriano, and forward Sansone.

Probable lineups Villarreal: Barbosa – Rukavina, Bonera, Ruiz, Marin – Raba, Rodri, Trigueros, Cheryshev – Bacca, Unal

Verdict:

It is fact that neither of teams is in particularly good mood ahead of the 1st leg match of the round of 16, but nevertheless we have decided to give advantage to the French team, mostly due to fact that it plays very good at home this season.

Pick:  Lyon wins 2.0 - 10/10 @1XBet