Dinamo Zagreb look to pull off a huge comeback as they welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Stadion Maksimir in second leg of their Last 16 tie in 2020-21 UEFA Europa League.
Dinamo need at least two goals without reply to force extra time if not three or more in order to advance, whereas Tottenham know that a victory, draw or narrow defeat plus at least one away goal would see them through.
Team News
Sadegh Moharrami remains Dinamo Zagreb’s only absentee with a knee injury which also kept him out of the first leg last week.
Tottenham will be without Song Heung-min after the North Korean suffered a muscle injury in Sunday’s loss at Arsenal.
Giovani Lo Celso (thigh) remains absent.
Stat Attack
- Dinamo Zagreb have lost both previous meetings against Tottenham in all UEFA competitions (L2).
- Spurs are visiting Stadion Maksimir for the first time, with both of their previous meetings in this fixture having taken place in North London.
- Mislav Orsic has scored in Zagreb’s last two home games, with both of his goals coming in the first half.
- Son Heung-min and Gareth Bale have both scored in each of Tottenham’s last two away Europa League matches against LASK and Wolfsberger.
- Davide Massa is refereeing this match which marks the first time that he is in charge of a Zagreb or Spurs match this season.
Prediction
After a poor display in the first leg, Dinamo Zagreb need to step up and deliver a stronger clinical performance because they’ve it all to do to just get two goals to force extra time, especially against a team of Tottenham’s talent but their home form does offer them hope.
Tottenham will be disappointed by Sunday’s away performance at Arsenal because they seemed under the weather throughout with several wasted shots and sloppy defending, on top of poor discipline both in fouling and attacking quality.
On one hand, you could argue that Spurs’ packed season is beginning to catch up with them fitness wise but on other hand, I don’t think there is much else that they could of done on Sunday other than tighten up defensively so am punting on them to bounce back here although Son will be a big loss up front.
Prediction: Dinamo Zagreb 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Result: Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 (AET) Tottenham Hotspur (Dinamo Zagreb win 3-2 on aggregate!!!)