Salzburg v Villarreal background
Friday, February 20, 2015
Article summary
FC Salzburg will need to maintain their unbeaten home record in Europe this season if they are to come from behind and eliminate Villarreal CF in order to reach the last 16.
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Article body
Villarreal CF have a 2-1 advantage to take to Austria for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie against FC Salzburg.
Previous meetings
• The Yellow Submarine prevailed in the first leg thanks to goals from Ikechukwu Uche and Denis Cheryshev either side of Jonatan Soriano's penalty.
• The sides also met in the 2009/10 UEFA Cup group stage, Huub Stevens' Salzburg winning 2-0 at home and 1-0 in Spain.
• The teams for the encounter in Salzburg on 1 October 2009 were:
Salzburg: Gustafsson, Afolabi, Schwegler*, Pokrivač, Tchoyi, Schiemer, Ulmer*, Švento (Opdam 90), Janko (Zickler 79), Sekagya, Leitgeb* (Cziommer 90+2).
Villarreal: Diego López, Gonzalo Rodríguez (Senna 57), Capdevila, Eguren, Cazorla, Llorente (Nilmar 76), Cani (Escudero 64), Ángel López, Marcano, Bruno Soriano*, Rossi.
*eligible to play for the club in this season's competition.
Form guide
• Salzburg are unbeaten in five European home games this season (W4 D1), and made it through the group stage unbeaten, home and away.
• Villarreal's record away from home in Europe this season is W2 D1 L1.
Trivia and links
• Alan tops this season's UEFA Europa League scorers rankings with eight Salzburg goals in five group games, but the Brazilian left the club to move to China in the winter. Team-mate Soriano, one of three players on six tournament goals this term, was last season's UEFA Europa League top scorer, also with eight goals.
• Soriano is Spanish, and played for RCD Espanyol, UD Almería, Club Polideportivo Ejido, Albacete Balompié and FC Barcelona's B-team before heading to Austria in 2012. Villarreal's Jonathan Dos Santos was among his Barcelona B team-mates.
• Villarreal's Bruno Soriano and Salzburg's Jonatan Soriano are not related.
• Salzburg (Austria) are one of seven reigning domestic champions in the round of 32, along with Legia Warszawa (Poland), Aalborg BK (Denmark), Olympiacos FC (Greece), Celtic FC (Scotland), RSC Anderlecht (Belgium) and AFC Ajax (Netherlands).
The coaches
• Adi Hütter took charge of Salzburg following Roger Schmidt's departure for Bayer 04 Leverkusen in summer 2014. A former midfielder with the club, he coached Salzburg's youth teams before moving into senior football with SCR Altach and SV Grödig, whom he led to promotion and then a third-place finish in Austria last season.
• An attacking midfielder in the Spanish top flight with Real Sporting de Gijón, Villarreal coach Marcelino started coaching early after retiring due to injury aged 28. In charge at El Madrigal since 2013, he has also overseen RC Recreativo de Huelva, Real Racing Club, Real Zaragoza and Sevilla FC.
