H2H: Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Villarreal – Prediction (Europa League

H2H: TelAviv v Villarreal – Comparison.

Dan Biton has scored three of Maccabi’s last six goals in European competition – two came from the penalty spot. Villarreal have had a tournament-high seven different players score for them in this season’s UEL, although Carlos Bacca has contributed to a third of their goals (three goals, one assist). With victory here, Villarreal can match Sevilla’s record for most UEL wins (42) since the 2009/10 rebrand – many of which were earned by Villarreal’s current manager, Unai Emery.

TelAviv Insights.

Maccabi TelAviv can consolidate their UEFA Europa League (UEL) progression hopes with victory, but a 4-0 humbling in the reverse fixture makes it hard to fancy the hosts. Whilst strong domestically, their only three defeats across their last 11 competitive games came in European competition (W4, D3, L3) after they conceded 2+ goals in each defeat. Although Maccabi have qualified for five group stages from 2013/14 onwards, they’ve still failed to register consecutive home wins since victories over Frankfurt and Bordeaux that season (W2, D3, L6 since). Moreover, they have failed to win four of their five previous H2Hs vs Spanish opposition (W1, D2, L2), trailing 1-0 at HT in three.

Villarreal Insights.

Visiting Villarreal will surely have all guns blazing given that victory will seal progression with two games to spare due to the H2H tiebreaker rules. They protect an ten-game unbeaten run (W7, D3) and that’s unlikely to end here considering manager Unai Emery has won three UEL titles and boasts a 84.53% unbeaten rate in the competition proper (W51, D20, L13). Another good omen for Villarreal is that since the 2015/16 UEL knockout stages, they’ve only lost three away matches in European action (W7, D9, L3 – excluding qualifiers), with each defeat coming against sides from Europe’s top five leagues. Notably, ten of those 19 away fixtures saw both teams score, although one of those was a goalless encounter vs Maccabi.