Manchester United vs Villarreal: Revenge on the cards for Red Devils
Both Manchester United and Villarreal will be seeking for their first Champions League win of the season, but the Red Devils will also be out for revenge on Wednesday evening. Four months ago, the Yellow Submarine sunk the English giants’ hopes of winning another Europa League after pushing the game to spot-kicks and ultimately winning in the penalty shoot-out. Now, Manchester United will be looking to get one over on Unai Emery’s side while turning things around after a shock 2-1 loss to Swiss minnows Young Boys.
It’s been a tricky period for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men, who will come into this game having lost three of their last four matches across all comps. In addition to the aforementioned surprise defeat to Young Boys, Manchester United were also beaten 1-0 by West Ham in the EFL Cup, followed by a recent 1-0 loss to Aston Villa last weekend. Both games were played at Old Trafford, meaning that the Red Devils will be especially keen to avoid yet another home defeat when Villarreal arrive on Wednesday.
Shockingly, the recent loss saw the usually reliable Bruno Fernandes – who has only missed three of this last 45 spot-kicks – miss from 12 yards out, thus denying the hosts a chance to salvage what would have been a very valuable point. This has seen the Red Devils slide down to fourth in the table, albeit only one point behind current league leaders Liverpool, who have yet to lose a match so far this season.
As such, given that this game is the third consecutive home match for Manchester United, with a clash against Everton coming up over the weekend, the English giants will be loath to lose again at Old Trafford. Unfortunately, Villarreal has proven to be a major nuisance for them time and time again. Indeed, all five prior meetings between Manchester United and the Spanish side have finished in draws, four of which finished as a dull scoreless result. The only exception was last season’s Europa League final, which finished 1-1 and ultimately went to penalties.
In fact, Manchester United’s woes extend to all Spanish sides, not just Villarreal. They haven’t beaten a Spanish team since defeating Real Sociedad in 2013, and are winless in their last seven. Compounding matters is Solskjaer’s own shaky record in this competition; to date, the Norwegian tactician has lost seven of his first 11, making him the first manager at the highly-decorated club to lose more than half of his Champions League games. And it’s safe to say he hasn’t covered himself in glory with Manchester United’s unfortunate capitulation to Young Boys, a team that many had predicted would be an easy opponent for a team of the Red Devils’ caliber.
Now things are a lot tougher, as Villarreal come into this game having earned a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Atalanta, and more significant, the Yellow Submarine do have a solid record in Europe. Despite not impressing so far in La Liga – they’ve drawn five of their first six games – Villarreal are unbeaten in their last 16 European games. That’s the longest unbeaten record of any side in Europe at the moment, including heavyweights like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. They will be a bit frustrated with their draw against Atalanta, as they would have deserved a win, only to concede late on to allow La Dea to snatch a draw, but will certainly seek to cause more problems for a Manchester United side facing a tricky period at the moment.
Emery himself hasn’t done well when facing United – with just two wins in his last seven – but he did guide the Yellow Submarine to the winners’ podium during last season’s Europa League final. The visitors will likely have to make do without Gerard Moreno, who was in brilliant form last season but has struggled to reach the same heights due to injury issues, as well as Dani Raba, who’s also in doubt for this game due to a knock. Nigerian international Samuel Chukwueze is ruled out with a hip injury, while Francis Coquelin was sent off during the clash against Atalanta and so will miss this game due to a ban.
Manchester United’s absentees will include Marcus Rashford, who’s still recovering from shoulder surgery, plus Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who’s suspended. In addition, defensive duo Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw both had to be subbed out during the team’s loss to Aston Villa with calf and muscular issues respectively, so are major doubts for this match – meaning that Solskjaer will have to do a major reshuffle in defense. Will that be something Villarreal will be able to exploit? Or will Manchester United successfully exact revenge on the Yellow Submarine for sinking their Europa League hopes, less than five months after last meeting in the final?
