Villarreal vs Manchester United Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
Villarreal:
Asenjo; Funes Mori, Albiol, Pau Torres, Pedraza: Pino, Capoue, Parejo, Trigueros: Moreno, Alcacer
Manchester United:
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Lindelöf, Shaw; Van de Beek, Fred; Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani
Villarreal and Manchester United will face each other in the final of UEFA Europa League. The match will be played at Arena Gdansk in Poland. There will be 9,500 spectators, with each club receiving 2,000 tickets. The referee will be Clement Turpin, a 38-year-old from France, who is among the officials for UEFA EURO 2020 this summer. Villarreal are the nominal home team as a result of a draw.
Villarreal are looking for a Champions League spot through Europa League as they finished outside the Top-4 places in La Liga. Nevertheless, the European campaign was very successful. They cleared a group containing Sivasspor, Qarabag and Maccabi Tel-Aviv without losing a single game and drawing only one. Villarreal were also good in the knock-out phase. So far they have eliminated Red Bull Salzburg with 4:1 aggregate victory, Dynamo Kyiv with 4:0, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb with 3:1 and Arsenal with 2:1. Coach Unai Emery did a great job so far and the fans are satisfied. He could be the key figure for one important reason. His experience includes him between the most successful coaches in the competition should not be underestimated. Emery lead Sevilla to three titles in the Europa League. He could join Jose Mourinho, Bob Paisley and Giovanni Trapattoni as the fourth coach to have won four trophies in Europe's top two club competitions. In 2019 he also reached the Europa League final as manager of Arsenal, but lost 4:1 to Chelsea in Baku. The Yellow Submarine are unbeaten in 14 games, winning 12 of them. Gerard Moreno and Paco Alcacer are the key players and leading scorers in the team, but two-time Europa League winner Carlos Bacca is also an option for attack. Emery has some injury worries ahead of this match. Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze, who sustained an injury in their semi-final second leg against Arsenal, is rated as doubtful. Juan Foyth missed the weekend meeting versus Real Madrid with a hamstring injury, but could return to the squad in this match. Emery has to make a decision about the goalkeeping position. Reserve goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who has started all but one match during the club's European run, could be replaced with more experienced Sergio Asenjo due to importance of the match. Vicente Iborra continues to be on the treatment table nursing a long term cruciate ligament injury.
Manchester United are between the teams that won UEFA Europa League in the past. However, they are trophyless in over four years. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men have initially played in the Champions League, but finished as third in a group which contained PSG, RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir. It was a big disappointment and they continued in Europa League. In the first knock-out round United have eliminated Real Sociedad with a 4:0 aggregate victory. Italian side AC Milan were the next opponents. The Red Devills were in difficult position after the first match played at Old Trafford The opponents scored an injury-time goal and obtained an 1:1 draw. But United showed their class in Italy by winning 1:0 at San Siro. It was a lot easier in the quarter-finals when Manchester twice won with identical 2:0 against La Liga outfit Granada. Finally, the Red Devils were outstanding in the semi-finals with Roma. They secured the progress after the high 6:2 win in the first match. The narrow 3:2 loss in Italy wasn't important at all. I believe the players confidence is very high at the moment. Nevertheless, the last domestic results are not that good. Manchester United broke a four game winless streak in all competitions with a 2:1 win over Wolverhampton on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday. Previously they lost 2:1 to Leicester City, lost 4:2 to Liverpool and played an 1:1 draw with Fulham. Solskjaer has some additional issues as captain Harry Maguire is struggling with injury. The defender is in a race to be fit for this final after he suffered an ankle ligament injury in the match against Aston Villa earlier this month. Maguire may have taken a step closer to a return to action as he was spotted without crutches at the premiere of 'Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In' at Old Trafford last week. However, Solskjaer isn't optimist Maguire to be fit for the final - "He is walking but it is a long way from there to running", he said. Anthony Martial looks unlikely to feature as he has not yet recovered from a knee injury.
Villarreal vs Manchester United Prediction:
Villarreal and Manchester United have faced each other four times over the years, in the UEFA Champions League group stage in seasons 2005/06 and 2008/09. Remarkably, their meetings are yet to produce a single goal. Manchester United are favorites according to the bookmakers, but three-time competition winner Unai Emery should not be underestimated. I expect Villarreal to lift the trophy. The key reason for my pick is the absence of Maguire. Moreno and his teammates could cause serious problems to the United defense.
Villarreal vs Manchester United Pick: Villarreal +0.5 @ 2.08 with Bet365
Possible starting lineups:
Villarreal:
Asenjo; Funes Mori, Albiol, Pau Torres, Pedraza: Pino, Capoue, Parejo, Trigueros: Moreno, Alcacer
Manchester United:
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Lindelöf, Shaw; Van de Beek, Fred; Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani
Villarreal and Manchester United will face each other in the final of UEFA Europa League. The match will be played at Arena Gdansk in Poland. There will be 9,500 spectators, with each club receiving 2,000 tickets. The referee will be Clement Turpin, a 38-year-old from France, who is among the officials for UEFA EURO 2020 this summer. Villarreal are the nominal home team as a result of a draw.
Villarreal are looking for a Champions League spot through Europa League as they finished outside the Top-4 places in La Liga. Nevertheless, the European campaign was very successful. They cleared a group containing Sivasspor, Qarabag and Maccabi Tel-Aviv without losing a single game and drawing only one. Villarreal were also good in the knock-out phase. So far they have eliminated Red Bull Salzburg with 4:1 aggregate victory, Dynamo Kyiv with 4:0, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb with 3:1 and Arsenal with 2:1. Coach Unai Emery did a great job so far and the fans are satisfied. He could be the key figure for one important reason. His experience includes him between the most successful coaches in the competition should not be underestimated. Emery lead Sevilla to three titles in the Europa League. He could join Jose Mourinho, Bob Paisley and Giovanni Trapattoni as the fourth coach to have won four trophies in Europe's top two club competitions. In 2019 he also reached the Europa League final as manager of Arsenal, but lost 4:1 to Chelsea in Baku. The Yellow Submarine are unbeaten in 14 games, winning 12 of them. Gerard Moreno and Paco Alcacer are the key players and leading scorers in the team, but two-time Europa League winner Carlos Bacca is also an option for attack. Emery has some injury worries ahead of this match. Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze, who sustained an injury in their semi-final second leg against Arsenal, is rated as doubtful. Juan Foyth missed the weekend meeting versus Real Madrid with a hamstring injury, but could return to the squad in this match. Emery has to make a decision about the goalkeeping position. Reserve goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who has started all but one match during the club's European run, could be replaced with more experienced Sergio Asenjo due to importance of the match. Vicente Iborra continues to be on the treatment table nursing a long term cruciate ligament injury.
Manchester United are between the teams that won UEFA Europa League in the past. However, they are trophyless in over four years. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men have initially played in the Champions League, but finished as third in a group which contained PSG, RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir. It was a big disappointment and they continued in Europa League. In the first knock-out round United have eliminated Real Sociedad with a 4:0 aggregate victory. Italian side AC Milan were the next opponents. The Red Devills were in difficult position after the first match played at Old Trafford The opponents scored an injury-time goal and obtained an 1:1 draw. But United showed their class in Italy by winning 1:0 at San Siro. It was a lot easier in the quarter-finals when Manchester twice won with identical 2:0 against La Liga outfit Granada. Finally, the Red Devils were outstanding in the semi-finals with Roma. They secured the progress after the high 6:2 win in the first match. The narrow 3:2 loss in Italy wasn't important at all. I believe the players confidence is very high at the moment. Nevertheless, the last domestic results are not that good. Manchester United broke a four game winless streak in all competitions with a 2:1 win over Wolverhampton on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday. Previously they lost 2:1 to Leicester City, lost 4:2 to Liverpool and played an 1:1 draw with Fulham. Solskjaer has some additional issues as captain Harry Maguire is struggling with injury. The defender is in a race to be fit for this final after he suffered an ankle ligament injury in the match against Aston Villa earlier this month. Maguire may have taken a step closer to a return to action as he was spotted without crutches at the premiere of 'Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In' at Old Trafford last week. However, Solskjaer isn't optimist Maguire to be fit for the final - "He is walking but it is a long way from there to running", he said. Anthony Martial looks unlikely to feature as he has not yet recovered from a knee injury.
Villarreal vs Manchester United Prediction:
Villarreal and Manchester United have faced each other four times over the years, in the UEFA Champions League group stage in seasons 2005/06 and 2008/09. Remarkably, their meetings are yet to produce a single goal. Manchester United are favorites according to the bookmakers, but three-time competition winner Unai Emery should not be underestimated. I expect Villarreal to lift the trophy. The key reason for my pick is the absence of Maguire. Moreno and his teammates could cause serious problems to the United defense.
Villarreal vs Manchester United Pick: Villarreal +0.5 @ 2.08 with Bet365
