Dinamo Zagreb 0-1 Villarreal: In-form Moreno gives Yellow Submarine the edge

By Sports Desk April 08, 2021

The in-form Gerard Moreno scored his 24th club goal of the season as Villarreal secured a 1-0 Europa League quarter-final first-leg victory over Dinamo Zagreb.

Influential Spain forward Moreno stroked in his eighth goal in his last five matches for club and country from the penalty spot in the first half at Stadion Maksimir on Thursday.

Unai Emery's side deservedly extended their winning run to six matches, with Mislav Orsic's disallowed goal for offside in the first half summing up the Croatian champions' night.

The Yellow Submarine were good value for their win and will be expected to finish off the job in the second leg at Estadio de la Ceramica next Thursday.

Geronimo Rulli dived to his left to keep out Lovro Majer's deflected strike and Kevin Theophile-Catherine headed wide at the far post from a corner in a promising start for Dinamo.

Orsic, whose hat-trick knocked Tottenham out in the previous round, had the ball in the back of the Villarreal net, but the goal was ruled out as Iyayi Atiemwen had strayed marginally offside.

It was the LaLiga side who took the lead just before half-time, when the classy Moreno nonchalantly sent Dominik Livakovic the wrong way after Theophile-Catherine was penalised for what appeared to be an unintentional handball.

Emery replaced Carlos Bacca with Paco Alcacer at half-time and the Spanish side toyed with Dinamo after the break, dominating possession as they played with a swagger.

Samuel Chukwueze was unable to finish a slick Villarreal move with a second goal from close range and Dinamo boss Damir Krznar introduced Bruno Petkovic in a bid to turn the tide just after the hour mark.

Alcacer spurned a great chance to give Villarreal breathing space when he dragged a shot tamely wide before Livakovic tipped Manu Trigueros's deflected drive over the crossbar.

Dinamo struggled to get the ball off well-drilled Villarreal, who comfortably saw out the victory in impressive fashion.

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    The Championship returns from the international break with, much like the Premier League, a three-horse tussle at the top.

    Leicester City, having led the standings for the majority of the campaign, now find themselves in second place behind Leeds United, albeit with a game in hand on the in-form Whites.

    The Foxes are grappling with off-pitch issues, and a return to form when they face Bristol City on Friday would go far to restoring some momentum.

    Leeds, on the other hand, have won 12 of their last 13 Championship fixtures, dropping points just once in that run.

    As for third-placed Ipswich Town, they are hot on the heels of their automatic-promotion rivals.

    All of these sides have built their fine campaigns on some brilliant attacking play, scoring 224 goals between them. Using Opta data, we can look at just how these attacks stack up.

     

    Ipswich Town

    Of these three teams, Ipswich have scored the most goals, with Kieran McKenna's side netting 80 across their 38 matches - an average of 2.1 per game. That makes the Tractor Boys the leading scorers in the league, while they are also the leading team for non-penalty goals (78).

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    They have forced 309 high turnovers (winning the ball back within 40 yards of the opponent's goal), at an average of 8.1 per match. They lead the league for shot-ending high turnovers, with 65, albeit they are tied for fifth when it comes to scoring goals from such scenarios (seven). McKenna's team are certainly able to go direct, too, given they rank down at 10th for sequences of 10+ passes. 

     

    Don't bet against Ipswich if they go behind, meanwhile. They have gained 28 points from a losing position, topping the Championship.

    And when they get the lead, Ipswich typically hold onto it, with only two teams dropping fewer points from a winning position.

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    Ranking behind Ipswich for goals scored are Leicester, with 74 to their name. The Foxes are also second in the Championship for xG (68) and for xGOT (73.5).

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    Daniel Farke's team are the Championship leaders for high turnovers, with 319, while their average of 11 passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA), which measures how often a team presses their opponent, is the second highest in the competition.

    Leeds have been exceptionally effective from this high press, too. They have had the third-highest shots (61) and, along with Leicester, lead the Championship for goal-ending high turnovers, with eight.

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    “The amount owed to The RR McReynolds Company, LLC (owned by McElhenney and Reynolds) at the year-end was £8.977m (2022: £3.714m),” read a Wrexham statement.

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