Villarreal and Bayern will battle out for a place in the last four of the Champions League over two legs with the first leg held at Estadio de la Ceramica in Villarreal on Wednesday night, kickoff at 22:00 EAT.
Villarreal stunned Italian heavyweights Juventus in the previous round, drawing 1-1 in Spain in the first leg before demolishing the Old Lady with a shocking 3-0 win in Turin, Italy.
However, the Yellow Submarine have failed to extend their sensational Champions League form into their domestic campaign as Unai Emery’s side sit seventh in La Liga on 45 points from 30 matches. Last season’s Europa League winners are finding it hard to even secure a place in the competition next season as they currently sit eight points behind fifth-placed Real Betis, with eight matches to go.
They continued their La Liga struggles last time out as they went down 2-0 to Levante at away with Jose Luis Morales condemning the Yellow Submarines to their second consecutive league defeat through his heroic brace. Emery’s side were coming off a 1-0 defeat to Cadiz and they have now lost three of their last four league matches.
They will now attempt to boost their confidence as they look to get back on track with another sensational Champion League showing, however, they face Bayern Munich a side they fallen to in their two previous meetings in the competition.
The Germany and European giants humiliated RB Salzburg to in the last-16 to get to this round. Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Austria, Bayern Munich set the bar so high for Salzburg in the second leg as they raced to a 7-1 victory in Allianz Arena.
Despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Hoffenheim in Bundesliga after the thumping victory Bayern have since got their league affairs in line as they demolished both Union Berlin 4-0 and Freiburg 1-4 in their previous two Bundesliga matches. The victories have seen their Bundesliga lead restored to a nine-point gap and they are now unbeaten in their last eight games across all competitions.
Bayern will be confident heading into the fixture as this not the first time they travelling to Spain in this competition this season. They already did that in their opening night of the competition, where they trashed Barcelona 3-0 in Group E. Julian Nagelsmann’s side is also in a fine away form having lost none of their last four matches on the road across all competitions.
Villarreal vs Bayern Munich head to head
Both sides have met in two encounters since 2011 with Bayern Munich winning on both occasions.
- Munich 3-1 Villarreal 22/11/11
- Villarreal 0-2 B. Munich 14/09/11
Home
- Levante 2-0 Villarreal
- Cadiz 1-0 Villarreal
- Juventus 0-3 Villarreal
- Villarreal 1-0 Celta Vigo
- Osasuna 1-0 Villarreal
Away
- Freiburg 1-4 B. Munich
- Munich 4-0 Union Berlin
- Hoffenheim 1-1 B. Munich
- Munich 7-1 Salzburg
- Munich 1-1 Leverkusen
Villarreal team news
Villarreal will be without Alberto Moreno due to a knee injury.
Bayern Munich team news
Bayern have no injury or suspension concerns although there are doubts on Choupo-Moting, Alphonso Davis and NiklasSule.
Prediction and odds
- Bayern Munich win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
