Spanish La Liga side, Villarreal could use Bayern Munich to set a new standard at the club as far as the UEFA Champions League campaign is concerned. The Spanish side are just 90 minutes away from reaching their first UEFA Champions League semi-final stage since 2006.
Recall that on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Bayern Munich visited Villarreal’s El Madrigal to play the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final game against the Yellow Submarine. Ahead of the game, most pundits and bookmakers expected that the German Bundesliga giants would beat the Spanish La Liga side with ease.
To the dismay of many people who followed the game, Villarreal stunned Bayern Munich with a lone goal that the German Bundesliga giants could not respond to for 81 minutes.
Hence, the 8th-minute goal Arnaut Danjuma scored for Villarreal is the only goal separating the Spanish team from the German club.
Later tonight, April 12, at 20:00, Villarreal will take on Bayern Munich at the prestigious Allianz Arena. What coach Julian Nagelsmann and his men are expected to do is to attempt to overturn the one-goal deficit.
All things being equal, it ought not to be a problem for Bayern to score more than two goals against Villarreal and also prevent the Spanish team from scoring against them. But as it stands, Bayern Munich will be under pressure to deliver tonight and all eyes will be on Robert Lewandowski to rescue the German club.
Can Villarreal knock Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Champions League?
As it stands, the ball is in the court of Villarreal to qualify for the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League semi-final ahead of Bayern Munich.
Since the Spanish side were able to hold Bayern Munich down for 82 minutes after scoring the opener last Wednesday, they should be able to do the same thing for 90 minutes tonight.
Ahead of the second leg tie, Villarreal’s full-back Pervis Estupinan revealed that the club’s coach, Unai Emery has a plan to finish the job in the city of Munich at 20:00 tonight.
“The boss has a plan for us and we have been working to deactivate them”, the fullback said.
“They know us and we have to improve more still from what we achieved in the first leg.
“Having the ball allows us to do damage.”
One of the plans of Emery who helped Villarreal to win their first European title last season by beating Manchester United in the final of the Europa League could be to sit back and wait for an opportunity to strike through a counter-attack.
If that does not work, Villarreal could sit back and soak in the pressure for 90 minutes, after all, a 0-0 draw or a score draw is enough to help the Spanish club make it to the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2006.
Ahead of tonight, take some time to enjoy @LoCelsoGiovani's first-leg performance… 🤤#UCL pic.twitter.com/q7TDOzZxpb
— Villarreal CF English (@VillarrealCFen) April 12, 2022
The stats are against Bayern Munich
Coach Unai Emery of Villarreal has never coached a team in the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League even though he is the most successful coach in the Europa League. Hence, this is the best chance the coach has to play in the semi-final stage of the Champions League.
Just like his players that would want to stun Bayern Munich in the competition and give the Yellow Submarine fans something to celebrate, Emery would do all he can to ensure that his team takes advantage of the 1-0 aggregate lead over Bayern Munich.
Interestingly, Bayern Munich have never bounced back from a defeat in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League knockout stage in the last 15 seasons.
One good news for Villarreal is that Bayern Munich have lost four of the knockout ties involving the German side and a Spanish club in which Bayern trailed after the first leg.
Hence, Villarreal are expected to continue with such a legacy tonight by ending the journey of the six-time UEFA Champions League winners in front of Bayern’s fans.
Uno de los GRANDES MOMENTOS de la noche.
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) April 7, 2022
Bueno, y del año.
Bueno, y de la historia del club.
Naaaaaah, de locos.#UCL pic.twitter.com/iun8zJNXRd
