Villarreal have been one of the teams that does not like getting beat up Atletico over the past few seasons, but this season has seen a huge gap in terms of quality and Atleti could easily take all three points from this game. The Yellow Submarines are not on their best form at the moment as they have only 2 wins from their last 9 games in all competitions, however, their 2-0 win at Las Palmas last weekend would have boosted their morale ahead of this game. They would now hope to at least finish in a European place at the end of the season. They have not been so good defensively this season with only 3 clean sheets from their last 15 games. They are unbeaten in their last 5 games against Atleti. The visitors have to get a win here if they want to close the 8 points gap between them and Barcelona with 10 games left to play. They, however,  come into this on a good run of form. Their 5-1 win over Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia in midweek means they have won 11 of their last 12 games, the only loss being to Barcelona. They responded well to that loss by winning their last three games on the spin, scoring at least three goals in those games. Both teams have netted in 4 of their last 6 games on the road.

Both Leipzig and Bayern Munich are on a good run of form at the moment although Bayern Munich have been on the longest good run of form. Leipzig secured passage into the quarterfinal of Europa  League football in the midweek win an aggregate win over Zenith Saint Petersburg to give themselves hope of winning a trophy this season. They are currently 6th on the Bundesliga table, but only four points separate them from the last Champions League spot. They have lost each of their last four matches against Bayern Munich, but they have been one of the Bavarians’ toughest opponents and they would look to get their first victory in this game. Bayern Munich are looking to wrap up the league title by Sunday if other results go their way. The Bavarians are currently 20 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and they could win the league here if other teams on their trail succumbed to unlikely losses. A win here would take them closer to winning the league and help them turn all their energy towards winning the Champions League. They have won 12 of their last 13 league games. They have scored 3 or more goals in 4 of their last 5 games and they face a Leipzig side that has kept just 1 clean sheet in their last 7 home games. They have scored Leipzig ten times in their last 3 Bundesliga meetings together, which the highest number of goals they have been scored.    

Liverpool saw their unbeaten run ended by Manchester United last week as they fail to break down the Red Devil’s defence and also failed to track Marcus Rashford who netted two times to stop Jurgen Klopp’s men from going 21 league games unbeaten. They were on a run of 5 wins and two draws from seven games before that 2-1 loss, they would now look to build another winning run as they look to end the season inside the top four. They are currently 4th on the league table, 4 points ahead of Chelsea who are fifth and 5 points behind Manchester United who are second. Watford faces Liverpool at a time when they are struggling in away games, losing their last game on the road 3-0 at Arsenal. They have 3 wins, 2 draws and four losses from their last 9 games. They have not won a competitive game away from home since November, their current standing on the league table (10th) is largely due to a fine start to the season they had under Marcos Silva. They have failed to score a single goal in their last 5 away games, and they have scored just 2 goals in their last 9 away games.

Salzburg were given no chance of survival let alone triumph when they visited Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of this game last week, but the Austrians defied the odds and raced to a 2-0 lead, before seeing that cut in half by a consolation strike from Andre Schurle, they would now be looking to complete the job at home. They followed that win with a 2-2 draw against Mattersburg on Sunday, it wasn’t the best result, but they are currently 8 points clear at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga and they can afford to drop some points. Salzburg are unbeaten in all competitive football since August, which is 32 games ago, they have recorded 21 wins and 11 draws from those matches. They have five wins from their last 6 European home games. Dortmund have had a poor season despite starting very well. They are now 21 points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, they left the Champions League in the group stages and they are also out of the DFB Pokal. The Europa League is their only chance to win a trophy this season. Last week’s meeting was the only meeting between these sides.

The first leg of this game gathered so much buzz because of the attacking style of these teams. However, they both failed to really get going in the first leg until the second half when Leipzig raced to a 2-0 lead. Zenith fought back but they were only able to get a consolation goal and they now have some work to do to get a win while avoiding a goal from the Germans. Zenith would prioritise the Europa League now as they have fallen to the fifth position in the Russian League after drawing against Rostov the last time out. They have a good home form anyway as they have won 11 of their last 16, with only 3 of those ending in a loss. They have won every single European game this season. Leipzig have 3 losses, 2 draws and a win in their last 6 matches to leave themselves 6th in the Bundesliga table. They have also won only 3 of their last 11 away games so far, losing five and conceding 18 goals. They have been involved in over 2.5 goals scored in 7 of those 11 games.

While Besiktas defied the odds to get this far in the Champions League, this seems to be the end of the road for them after they were humbled 5-0 at the Allianz Arena a forth night ago. Since that first leg routing, they have commendably gone on a run of four games without a defeat, winning 3 of them. Although it is almost impossible for them to overturn their first-leg deficit in this game, they would be looking to show the rest of the world what they can do at home when they have the complete 11 players for 90 minutes. Bayern Munich are a world apart these days. The Bavarians wallopped Hamburger 6-0 at the weekend to make it 19 games without a loss, 18 of which have been wins. They are now 20 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and in Robert Lewandoski, they have an attacker every football fan wishes play for their team. The Pole score a Hattrick at the weekend to make it 28 goals in 30 games so far this season. They have 8 away matches on the trot and they would be taking that form to Turkey hoping to come back victors yet again.