MADRID, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Villarreal is clear favorite to book a place in the semi-finals of the Europa League when it entertains Dinamo Zagreb in the Estadio de la Ceramica on Wednesday evening.
Villarreal goes into the game with a 1-0 advantage from last week's away leg and has won its last seven matches in the competition, while last week's defeat extended Dinamo Zagreb's losing streak against Spanish sides to six games.
Unai Emery's men also know that only once in the history of the Europa League has a Spanish side crashed out of the competition after winning the first leg away from home with that happening in a last-16 tie between local rivals Betis and Sevilla.
Emery showed with his three consecutive wins at the helm of Sevilla that he is a specialist in this competition, although his side will have to improve on their La Liga performance at the weekend when they lost 2-1 at home to Osasuna.
Gerard Moreno is likely to lead the home attack and with five goals in his last four appearances, the top-scoring Spaniard in La Liga is clearly the main threat for Villarreal.
Granada faces a much tougher job if it wants to make it into the last four as it travels to play Manchester United at Old Trafford after suffering a 2-0 home defeat a week ago.
Man United has progressed to the next round every time it has won the first leg of a European tie away from home. Although it knocked Real Sociedad out in the round of 32, the Premier League outfit doesn't have a great record at home to Spanish sides, who have won four and drawn five of the last meetings at Old Trafford.
Granada will be buoyed by its weekend fightback to win 2-1 away to Valladolid and with full backs Carlos Neva and Dmitri Foulquier back after injury, although Kenedy is likely to miss out after suffering an ankle injury a week ago. Enditem
