Big Match Feature: Villarreal v Man United

football26 May 2021 08:42

The 2020/21 UEFA Europa League final brings together Spanish competition stalwarts Villarreal, who have never previously lifted a major European trophy, and 2016/17 winners Manchester United, who are competing in their 14th UEFA final. Catch the action live on SuperSport with live streaming on DStv and Showmax at 9pm CAT (SA only).

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The Spanish side are led by head coach Unai Emery, who steered Sevilla to a hat-trick of UEFA Europa League successes from 2013/14 to 2015/16 as well as taking Arsenal to the 2018/19 final, while his counterpart Ole Gunnar Solskjær is looking to win his first continental trophy as a manager – and his first silverware in two and a half years as the United boss.

Villarreal cruised to first place in UEFA Europa League Group I ahead of Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Sivasspor and Qarabag to reach the round of 32 for the eighth time before comfortably disposing of UEFA Champions League group stage participants Salzburg (2-0 a, 2-1 h) and Dynamo Kyiv (2-0 a, 2-0 h).

They also won both quarter-final matches against Dinamo Zagreb (1-0 a, 2-1 h) and then knocked out United's Premier League rivals – and Emery's former employers – Arsenal in the semi-final (2-1 h, 0-0 a). Villarreal are undefeated in Europe in 2020/21 with 11 wins and two draws.

Solskjær's team competed in the UEFA Champions League during the autumn, defeats in their final two Group H fixtures leaving them in third place on nine points behind Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig.

They have subsequently come through four UEFA Europa League ties, eliminating two Spanish clubs, Real Sociedad in the round of 32 (4-0 a, 0-0 h) and Granada in the quarter-finals (2-0 a, 2-0 h), as well as two from Italy – AC Milan in the round of 16 (1-1 h, 1-0 a) and Roma in the semi-finals (6-2 h, 2-3 a), the second-leg defeat in Rome ending their unbeaten run in this season's competition.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Villarreal and Manchester United have met in four previous European matches – on each occasion in the UEFA Champions League group stage – and everyone ended in a goalless draw.

The first encounter in September 2005, which marked Villarreal's debut in the UEFA Champions League proper, was notable for the sending-off of visiting United striker Wayne Rooney.

Another stalemate at Old Trafford two months later turned out to be costly for Sir Alex Ferguson's side as they would ultimately finish bottom of the group, ending a run of nine successive qualifications for the knockout phase, whereas Manuel Pellegrini's debutants finished top – despite scoring just three goals – and went on to reach the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Arsenal.

Ferguson and Pellegrini were both still in charge as the clubs played out two further 0-0 draws three years later, the first at Old Trafford, where United began the defence of the trophy, the second at El Madrigal, where the outcome ensured both teams qualified for the next stage.

Villarreal went on to reach the quarter-finals, losing again to Arsenal, while United made it all the way to another final only to lose 2-0 to another Spanish side, Barcelona, in Rome.

Those two campaigns remain Villarreal's sole ventures into the UEFA Champions League knockout phase. They made it third time lucky against Arsenal in this season's UEFA Europa League semi-final, which made their all-time record against Premier League opposition in five UEFA knockout ties W2 L3, the previous success having come in the first of them, against Everton in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round (2-1 a, 2-1 h). The other defeat was against Liverpool in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League semi-final (1-0 h, 0-3 a).

Villarreal's overall record against English clubs is W5 D7 L5. This is their first encounter at a neutral venue.

United have won only 16 of their 61 UEFA matches against Spanish opposition (D23 L22), though they are unbeaten in all four this spring (W3 D1), scoring eight goals and conceding none. However, their last three European campaigns have all been terminated by Liga opposition – by Sevilla in both the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (0-0 a, 1-2 h) and last season's one-off UEFA Europa League semi-final in Cologne (1-2), and by Barcelona in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League quarter-final (0-1 h, 0-3 a).

United's record in UEFA knockout ties against Spanish clubs is W9 L12. This includes a record in finals of W1 L3, with defeats in each of the last three – against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League deciders of 2009 and 2011 (1-3 at Wembley) and by Real Madrid in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup (1-2 in Skopje). Their only victory came in the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final against Barcelona in Rotterdam (2-1).

FORM GUIDE

VILLARREAL

Villarreal finished fifth in the 2019/20 Spanish Liga to return to Europe after a season's absence and participate in the UEFA Europa League group stage for a record-equalling eighth time.

The Spanish club have never finished outside the top two in their eight group campaigns, going through as section winners four times, including this season as Emery's side won Group I at a canter, scoring 12 goals in winning their first three matches before sealing first place with a 1-0 win at Sivasspor on Matchday 5.

The subsequent knockout phase wins against Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal have taken Villarreal through to the club's first major European final – though they were twice winners of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and once runners-up, in the early 2000s.

Villarreal are unbeaten in their last 12 UEFA Europa League matches outside Spain (W7 D5), keeping clean sheets in all of the last five. Their last defeats in this competition were in the 2018/19 quarter-final against local rivals Valencia (1-3 h, 0-2 a); they are now undefeated by non-Spanish opposition in 23 European matches (W16 D7) including all 13 this season.

This is Villarreal's first UEFA encounter in Poland.

MANCHESTER UNITED

United finished third in the Premier League last season, when they also lost three semi-finals – in the English League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Europa League. Their league position enabled them to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 23rd time.

Solskjær's side got off to a flier in Group H, beating Paris 2-1 away and Leipzig 5-0 at home, but lost three of their last four fixtures – 1-2 at Istanbul Basaksehir, 1-3 at home to Paris and 2-3 away to Leipzig – to drop down into third place.

UEFA Europa League knockout phase wins against Real Sociedad, Milan, Granada and Roma have taken the Manchester club into the final of the competition for the second time. They were triumphant four years ago, when José Mourinho's side defeated Ajax 2-0 in Stockholm, Paul Pogba scoring the first goal with other current United players Sergio Romero, Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford all starting the game and Anthony Martial coming on as a substitute.

United have lost just three of their last 17 matches outside Manchester in the UEFA Europa League, winning ten, and have scored at least once in every one of their knockout phase encounters in the competition outside England, a sequence that has now stretched to 16 matches.

This is United's first visit to Poland since the qualifying round of their triumphant 1998/99 UEFA Champions League campaign, when they drew 0-0 away to LKS Lódz after a first-leg 2-0 home win.

Their overall record in the country is W1 D2 L1, the sole victory coming in the semi-final of the 1990/91 European Cup Winners' Cup, when they beat tenman Legia Warszawa 3-1 in the Polish capital prior to a 1-1 draw in Manchester. This is their first UEFA encounter in Gdansk.

PREVIOUS UEFA FINALS

VILLARREAL (W2 L1)
- 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1-2 agg v Málaga
- 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2-1 agg v Heerenveen
- 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2-2 agg v Atlético de Madrid (aet; 3-1 penalties)

MANCHESTER UNITED (W7 L6)
- 1967/68 European Cup 4-1 v Benfica (aet)
- 1968 European/South American Cup 1-2 agg v Estudiantes
- 1990/91 European Cup Winners' Cup 2-1 v Barcelona
- 1991 UEFA Super Cup 1-0 v Crvena zvezda
- 1998/99 UEFA Champions League 2-1 v Bayern München
- 1999 UEFA Super Cup 0-1 v Lazio
- 1999 European/South American Cup 1-0 v Palmeiras
- 2007/08 UEFA Champions League 1-1 v Chelsea (aet; 6-5 penalties)
- 2008 UEFA Super Cup 1-2 v Zenit
- 2008/09 UEFA Champions League 0-2 v Barcelona
- 2010/11 UEFA Champions League 1-3 v Barcelona
- 2016/17 UEFA Europa League 2-0 v Ajax
- 2017 UEFA Super Cup 1-2 v Real Madrid

Big Match Feature: Villarreal v Man United

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