Juventus vs Villarreal: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Juventus welcome Villarreal to Turin aiming to avoid a third successive round of 16 elimination on home soil and with the tie finely poised at 1-1.

• Juve's January signing Dušan Vlahović made a dream start to his UEFA Champions League debut in the first leg at the Estadio de la Cerámica on 22 February, finding the net inside the first minute – his first goal in European competition on what was only the Serbian striker's second appearance – but the home side worked their way back into the contest and ensured they would travel to Italy on level terms thanks to Dani Parejo's 66th-minute equaliser.

• While the Spanish club are making only their third appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds, their Italian opponents have featured on 17 previous occasions.

• Juve came into this tie as Group H winners having overtaken holders Chelsea in the final moments on Matchday 6. Villarreal also came through some last-day drama in the group stage, a 3-2 victory at Atalanta giving them second place in Group F at the expense of the Italian team.

• The first leg was the sides' first meeting – the only tie in the round of 16 in which the clubs had never previously played against each other.

Form Guide
Juventus
• Juve won five of their six Group H games, the exception a 4-0 loss at Chelsea in the penultimate round of matches. Juventus, who had beaten the holders 1-0 in Turin on Matchday 2, therefore trailed the English club on head-to-head record going into Matchday 6, when a 1-0 win at home to Malmö, coupled with a late Zenit equaliser against Chelsea, allowed them to leapfrog their opponents to claim first place.

• Juve's other home game in this season's group stage brought a 4-2 defeat of Zenit.

• A team coached by Andrea Pirlo won five of their six games in last season's group stage. For the second season running, however, Juventus bowed out on away goals in the round of 16, losing on aggregate to Porto (1-2 a, 3-2 h aet).

• Juve's record run of nine successive Serie A titles was ended by Inter in 2020/21.

• Pirlo was replaced as Juventus coach in the summer, Massimiliano Allegri returning to the club he led to the 2015 and 2017 UEFA Champions League finals during his previous spell in charge between 2014 and 2019.

• The 4-0 loss at Chelsea was the first time Juve had been beaten by four goals in the UEFA Champions League era; it was their heaviest European defeat since going down by the same scoreline at Celta Vigo in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup fourth round second leg. It was also Juve's biggest European Cup loss since a 7-0 reverse at Wiener SC in the 1958/59 preliminary round second leg, their first tie in the competition.

• Juve have lost only five of their 49 European matches at the Juventus Stadium (W32 D12), although four of those defeats have come in their last 17.

• Juventus are in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 for the 13th time (W7 L5); they have lost their last two ties on away goals, against Lyon in 2019/20 (0-1 a, 2-1 h) and Porto last season, having won the previous three.

• The Turin team lost 1-0 at home to Deportivo La Coruña in the 2003/04 round of 16 but are unbeaten in their subsequent 11 matches at this stage of the UEFA Champions League in Turin (W8 D3), winning the last three.

• Juve's last games against Spanish opponents before this tie came in last season's group stage, when they lost 2-0 at home to Barcelona on Matchday 2 before a 3-0 Matchday 6 victory in Spain, Weston McKennie scoring the second goal in a win that took the Turin team above their opponents in the final standings.

• The first-leg draw at Villarreal means Juventus have now won six of their last ten matches against Spanish clubs, home and away (D2 L2). Juve have lost only two of their last 14 home matches against Liga visitors (W8 D4), a 0-3 defeat by Real Madrid in the 2017/18 quarter-final first leg ending Juve's five-year, 27-match unbeaten home run in UEFA competition (W16 D11).

• Juventus have won ten of their 17 two-legged ties against Spanish clubs, including the last, in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League round of 16 when they overturned a 2-0 first-leg defeat at Atlético de Madrid with a 3-0 success in Turin.

• Juve have won 12 of the 15 UEFA competition ties in which they drew the away first leg, although they lost the last, to Ajax in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1-1 a, 1-2 h). That was one of 11 occasions, including the last six, in which the first leg finished 1-1; Juve have won eight of those 11 contests overall. Before being eliminated by Ajax three seasons ago, Juve's previous defeat after an away first-leg draw had come at the hands of Manchester United in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League semi-finals (1-1 a, 2-3 h).

• Juventus's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W3 L3:
3-0 v Ajax, 1977/78 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-final
1-4 v Widzew Łódź, 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round
4-2 v Argentinos Juniors, 1985 European/South American Cup final
1-3 v Real Madrid, 1986/87 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round
4-2 v Ajax, 1995/96 UEFA Champions League final
2-3 v AC Milan, 2002/03 UEFA Champions League final

Villarreal
• The Spanish side picked up ten points in this season's group stage to reach the round of 16, finishing one point behind Manchester United having lost 2-1 away and 2-0 at home against the team they beat in last season's UEFA Europa League final.

• Six of Villarreal's points came away from home; aside from the defeat at United, they won 4-1 at Young Boys before that decisive 3-2 victory at Atalanta on Matchday 6.

• Seventh in the Spanish Liga in 2020/21, Villarreal's UEFA Europa League triumph means they are playing in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, for the fourth time, and the first since 2011/12.

• That most recent campaign was also their least successful, Villarreal losing all six games to finish bottom of a section that also included Bayern München, Napoli and Manchester City.

• This is the Yellow Submarine's third appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds. Semi-finalists on debut in 2005/06, they made it to the quarter-finals three years later – both campaigns ended by Arsenal.

• In 2020/21, Unai Emery's team cruised to first place in UEFA Europa League Group I ahead of Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Sivasspor and Qarabağ to reach the round of 32 for the eighth time before comfortably disposing of UEFA Champions League group stage participants Salzburg (2-0 a, 2-1 h) and Dynamo Kyiv (2-0 a, 2-0 h). They also won both quarter-final matches against Dinamo Zagreb (1-0 a, 2-1 h) and then knocked out Emery's former employers Arsenal in the semi-final (2-1 h, 0-0 a) before beating Manchester United 11-10 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Gdańsk final. Villarreal were undefeated in Europe in 2020/21 with 11 wins and three draws.

• The defeat of United came in Villarreal's first major European final, though they were twice winners of the UEFA Intertoto Cup (2003, 2004) having finished as runners-up in 2002.

• Villarreal were defeated 6-5 on penalties by UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea after a 1-1 draw in the UEFA Super Cup on 11 August in Belfast.

• With that counted as a draw, the defeat at United on Matchday 2 this season ended Villarreal's 26-match unbeaten run against non-Spanish opposition in European matches (W16 D10), since a 1-0 loss at home to Lyon in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 32 second leg.

• The victories at Young Boys and Atalanta have made it three wins in Villarreal's last 12 away fixtures in the UEFA Champions League proper (D4 L5), the other a 1-0 success at Benfica on Matchday 4 in 2005/06.

• Villarreal have won both their previous UEFA Champions League round of 16 ties, against Rangers in 2005/06 (2-2 a, 1-1 h, won on away goals) and Panathinaikos in 2008/09 (1-1 h, 2-1 a). They are therefore unbeaten away at this stage of the competition.

• The 3-2 win at Atalanta was only Villarreal's second away success against Serie A sides (D4 L5), Arnaut Danjuma scoring twice to seal second place in Group F.

• Danjuma had also found the net in Villarreal's 2-2 draw against Atalanta on Matchday 1, their first game against an Italian side since the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League round of 32, when they were eliminated by Roma (0-4 h, 1-0 a).

• That loss to Roma ended Villarreal's perfect record in knockout ties against Italian sides; they had won the first six.

• Villarreal's aggregate record when drawing the home first leg in UEFA competition is W3 L3; they were beaten in the last such contest, against Wolfsburg in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 32 (2-2 h, 1-4 a). They have twice drawn 1-1 at home in the first leg, both in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League, beating Panathinaikos in the round of 16 (2-1 a) before losing to Arsenal in the quarter-finals (0-3 a).

• Villarreal's record in four UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W3 L1:
4-3 v Torino, 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup third round
3-1 v Atlético de Madrid, 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final
11-10 v Manchester United, 2020/21 UEFA Europa League final
5-6 v Chelsea, 2021 UEFA Super Cup

Links and trivia
• Have played in Spain:
Álvaro Morata (Real Madrid 2008–14, 2016/17, Atlético de Madrid 2019–20)
Arthur (Barcelona 2018–20)
Danilo (Real Madrid 2015–17)

• Morata scored one goal in three appearances against Villarreal for both Real Madrid (W1 D2) and Atlético (W2 D1).

• Arthur got Barcelona's winner in a 2-1 home Liga victory against Villarreal on 24 September 2019.

• Emery coached Adrien Rabiot at Paris Saint Germain from 2016 to 2018.

• Has played in Italy:
Raúl Albiol (Napoli 2013–19)

• Albiol's record against Juve with Napoli was W4 D1 L7.

• Gerard Moreno scored a penalty for Spain in the shoot-out against Italy in the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-final on 6 July 2021. Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi also converted for Italy while Manuel Locatelli (Italy) and Morata (Spain) both missed their penalties. Juve's Federico Chiesa and Morata had both scored in that 1-1 draw in which Giorgio Chiellini also played.

• Have played together:
Wojciech Szczęsny & Francis Coquelin (Arsenal 2011–15)
Adrien Rabiot & Serge Aurier (Paris Saint Germain 2014–17)
Adrien Rabiot & Giovani Lo Celso (Paris Saint Germain 2017–18)

• International team-mates:
Álvaro Morata & Gerard Moreno, Pau Torres, Raúl Albiol, Yeremi Pino (Spain)
Matthijs de Ligt & Arnaut Danjuma (Netherlands)
Paulo Dybala & Juan Foyth, Giovani Lo Celso (Argentina)