Sevilla travel to Croatia this evening to take on Dinamo Zagreb in the second leg of their Europa League tie. The winner earns a place in the last 16 of the competition Sevilla have won more than anyone else and the Andalusian outfit have a slight advantage due to the fact that they won the first leg back at the Sanchez-Pizjuan 3-1 last Thursday evening.
Ivan Rakitic, a former Croatian international, put Sevilla ahead that evening only for Mislav Orisic to equalise for Dinamo shortly afterwards. Two quick-fire goals from Papu Gomez and Anthony Martial, however, made it 3-1 and soon put the match to bed.
Sevilla followed that result up with a disappointing 1-1 draw with Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium, however, leaving them six points behind Real Madrid in what’s proving to be an increasingly difficult title race. They’re not playing champagne football but will be determined to see this tie through on the road this evening.
“We know the potential of Dinamo and not just of Orsic,” Julen Lopetegui said pre-match in comments carried by Diario de Sevilla. “He scored a hat-trick against Atalanta in the Champions League, he scored against Villarreal.
“They have [Bruno] Petkovic, they have [Deni] Juric, they have [Mahir] Emreli, who we know from Qarabag. And they have a clear idea of how to press and deal with our players. They have great potential and it’s going to be a very complex game. We have to prepare ourselves and show our best version.”
