Sevilla’s bid to win back-to-back Europa League titles will face a stern test if they want to pass to the semi-final stage against Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday night.
The hosts have been on an excellent run of form for the majority of the campaign, since their 0-0 draw with La Liga champions Atlético Madrid since the beginning of March they have won their five league games aswell as the two legs against Villarreal in the previous round of the competition.
Their run of wins did end at the weekend when they came back from two goals to draw with current league leaders Barcelona, which leaves them in fifth place, just four points off Atlético in third.
Zenit St Petersburg will not be pushovers for their Spanish opposition and could easily be one of the contenders to lift the trophy in May. Their form has equally been magnificent of their Spanish counterparts having only lost once in all competitions since their 2-0 defeat to AS Monaco in their last UEFA Champions League group game back in December.
This magnificent form has seen them climb to the top of the Russian Premier League with an eight point gap between them and nearest rivals Krasnodar. However recent records will worry the Russians; with Zenit having lost 11 of their last 19 European away games, won two of 14 games against Spanish sides, without a win in their last seven games against La Liga opposition and more crucially they have played six in Spain and lost all of them.
Unai Emery will be sweating over the fitness of Beto as the Portuguese goalkeeper is yet to fully recover from a hamstring injury, Grzegorz Krychowiak will return to the starting line-up after serving his suspension.
Former Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas will have a headache selection as well as sorting out his tactics, as he will be forced to travel to Spain with five of his key players absent. Hulk, Domenico Criscito, Igor Smolnikov and Danny are all missing through respective suspensions after Zenit picked up several bookings during the second leg with Serie A side Torino in the previous round. Viktor Fayzulin will also miss out with a knee injury and with these absentees especially in the attacking part of the field it is likely that AVB will look to shut down their opponents and hold out for a draw or hit the hosts on a counter and pick up what will turn out to be a crucial away goal in the tie.