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Football London
Football London
Sport
Bobby Vincent

Santi Cazorla asked for prediction on Arsenal vs Villarreal Europa League decider

Santi Cazorla has been asked to predict who would progress into the Europa League final out of two of his former clubs Arsenal and Villarreal.

The Spanish side have a 2-1 lead going into the second leg after last week's entertaining first clash.

Villarreal went 2-0 up inside 30 minutes through goals from Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol before Nicolas Pepe replied late on for the visitors in Spain.

Both sides finished the first leg with 10 men after red cards were shown to both Dani Ceballos and Etienne Capoue in the second-half.

Pepe 's penalty in the 73rd minute could turn out to be a crucial away goal for the Gunners when the sides come head-to-head again this week at the Emirates Stadium.

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Ahead of the second leg, former Arsenal and Villarreal star Cazorla has been speaking to UEFA about how his two old clubs will fare against each other.

The Spaniard said: “My feelings for both clubs are so huge that it’s difficult for me to choose one or the other.

"I would have liked for this tie to be the final as I’d know at least the winner would lift the trophy.

“The feelings are going to be very beautiful, but I’ll feel very bad for the team that gets knocked out.

"The only thing I ask for is that the team that reaches the final wins it.”

What could turn out to be a good omen for Arsenal supporters it that the side have qualified from each of their last two European knockout ties where they lost the first leg.

The first coming against BATE Borisov in February 2019, before doing the same a month later against Rennes in the same competition.

However, Villarreal have progressed from 15 of their 16 two-legged ties in European competitions after winning the first leg.

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