Tonight’s meeting between Villarreal and Bayern Munich is only the second between the sides after the 2011-12 season when the Germans won 3-1 at home and 2-0 away before losing the Champions League final.
This is Villarreal’s first game in the Champions League quarter-finals since 2009 when the Yellow Submarine were eliminated by Arsenal.
The La Liga outfit have only won one of their six games at this stage of the competition or later. The result came in a 1-0 victory at home to Inter Milan in 2006, with a goal from defender Rofolfo Arruabarrena.
Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski has scored 12 goals in eight Champions League appearances so far this season.
Villarreal will take confidence from their result against Juventus in the previous round but their poor league form of late has many doubting them going into the fixtures against the Bundesliga giants.
Unai Emery’s side have lost back-to-back La Liga games against struggling Levante and Cádiz, without scoring a goal in either fixture.
Speaking ahead of the game, Emery said: “We’re very excited. Our idea is to want to compete and have options to win. It will be different from the tie against Juventus. They’re distinct teams, who demand different things from us. We need to know how to adapt and work on the game with the aim of being at our best performance-wise.”
Villarreal’s possible XI vs Bayern Munich
