Thursday, starting at 20:05, Lyon – Villareal will play in the 16th European League Final. We anticipate a balanced match with a small advantage on the part of the hosts.

The hosts failed to impress in the last round of Ligue 1, being defeated 2-0 by Rennes on their own. The reason for this defeat is obviously the rest of the holders for this Europa League game. Even if some football players appeared in the first 11 and others were introduced throughout the game, it was clear that Lyon did not really force that game at all. Even so, they dominated the match with not less than 19 goals. Of course, the OL is based on the tournament to qualify in the best of the Europa League because this match will be played on the ground. The only absence of the OL team is Raphael, the right Brazilian midfielder has been missing for a long time and the team is doing very well without him. Most likely we will see a 4-2-3-1 with Mariano’s top kick, which Lyon adopts in the matches where he counts on the “book” of the attack. Although they finished second in group E at 3 points under the Atalanta, the French game has improved considerably. At the same time, at that time, other matches and maybe also lost the game disputed in the trip from Italy. We feel that Lyon who beat the PSG’s “soccer machine” has no reason to fear a clear-cut opponent of the Parisians and in the case that Fekir and Depay will play at the same level, this match should be accessible for them.

On the other side, Villareal is on the 5th position in LaLiga, but Sevilla has come close to just one point. Like Lyon, the Spaniards bet on the rest of the titles and were also defeated by Alaves in the final round of 1-2. However, it is important to mention that they dominated anyway that game, in which they had no less than 26 goals. Although they managed to get into UEL’s A group, they did it quite hard, having one point over FC Astana and three over Slavia Prague, although they started as clear favorites. The results of the “Yellow Submarine” have not been impressive at all, and if they have not managed to get hold of Betis, it will be a bit difficult to do with Lyon. For this Iberian game, six players are unavailable because there is little chance of seeing Soriano recovered in time. Besides, even if Alvaro Gonzalez is capable of playing, in the match with Alaves he has not shined and remains to be seen if he is in the first 11. Another problem of Villareal is that Jaume Costa will miss the return in the case a yellow card received on Thursday, so he will not be able to play as aggressively as he has accustomed us to.

Lyon: Lopes – Tete, Marcelo, Diakhaby, Marcal – Aouar, N’Dombele – Cornet, Fekir, Depay – Mariano.

Villareal: Barbosa- Marin, Ruiz, Boner, Rukavina- Trigueros, Rudi, Raba- Fornals- Unal, Bacca.

PREDICTION: Lyon to win @ 1.92