Villarreal v Plzeň background
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Article summary
Villarreal are on a three-game losing streak in Europe after opening their Group E campaign with a 2-1 defeat, but will hope for better when they welcome Viktoria Plzeň.
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Villarreal CF will look to put an end to a three-game losing streak in the UEFA Europa League when they host Czech champions FC Viktoria Plzeň in Group E.
Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.
• Villarreal are unbeaten in their three previous matches against Czech teams: W2 D1.
• Plzeň's record in four fixtures against Spanish clubs is W1 D0 L3 (W1 D0 L1 at home – W0 D0 L2 in Spain). They lost both of those games in Spain – against FC Barcelona and Club Atlético de Madrid – without scoring.
Form guide
• Villarreal opened their Group E campaign with a 2-1 loss to SK Rapid Wien, having succumbed home and away to eventual winners Sevilla FC in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 16.
• Plzeň are unbeaten in three European away trips (W2 D1).
• Villarreal scored an impressive 15 goals in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, five of them away from home. They scored at least once in all 12 of their European games last season: 29 goals in total.
• Plzeň successfully navigated their way through their only previous UEFA Europa League group stage in 2012/13.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Plzen to Villarreal is around 1,500km.
• Plzeň midfielder František Rajtoral can make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance in the Villarreal game.
• Plzeň's Matús Kozáčík was in goal as Slovakia beat Spain 2-1 in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, but he and Plzeň team-mate Patrik Hrošovský also featured in the side that lost 2-0 in the return fixture in September.
• Plzeň are one of ten domestic champions in this season's group stage, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Albania), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).
The coaches
• Villarreal coach Marcelino's career as a midfielder was ended early by injury. As a coach, he worked his way up the Spanish leagues, taking over at his current club in 2013 following spells at Real Zaragoza, Real Racing Club and Sevilla.
• Karel Krejčí took charge at Plzeň this summer, replacing Miroslav Koubek. He was Pavel Vrba's assistant when Plzeň won two league titles and he continues to work as Vrba's No2 with the Czech national team.
