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Villarreal have only lost one of six European home games against German opposition, but that sole defeat came at the hands of Bayern. The visitors meanwhile are unbeaten in 22 Champions League away fixtures, winning 17, a competition record.
Bayern Munich to win and over 2.5 goals is 5/4.
Bayern Munich to win and both teams to score is 2/1.
Robert Lewandowski has scored 40 goals in his last 32 Champions League appearances, including two hat-tricks this season. He is 9/4 to break the deadlock, 8/15 to score anytime and 21/10 to score two or more.
Match preview
This is Villarreal’s first Champions League quarter-final appearance for 13 years while, in contrast, Bayern are competing at this stage for the tenth time in just 11 seasons.
History certainly favours the German club in this particular tie, as does current form and everything else for that matter.
However, in the round of 16, they appeared to be in trouble, needing Kingsley Coman’s last-gasp equaliser to snatch a draw against RB Salzburg.
Nevertheless, in the return leg at home, all nerves were settled when Robert Lewandowski bagged a hat-trick inside the opening 23 minutes.
Serge Gnabry, Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané were all also on target at Allianz Arena as Bayern demolished the Austrian champions 7-1.
The Bavarian giants won this trophy for the sixth time in 2020, before crashing out at this stage to Paris Saint-Germain 12 months ago.
Domestically, Saturday’s 4-1 drubbing of Freiburg leaves them nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, so their full focus is on Europe.
Villarreal meanwhile won their first-ever major trophy last season, beating Manchester United on penalties in the Europa League Final.
This was just as well because el Submarino Amarillo had finished seventh in La Liga, so needed that triumph to secure a Champions League return.
Nevertheless, Unai Emery’s men have grasped the opportunity, finishing second in Group F thanks to a matchday six victory over Atalanta in Bergamo.
They were then drawn against Italian opposition again, but were big underdogs to advance after only drawing 1-1 with Juventus on home turf.
Three weeks later though, Villarreal scored thrice in the final 12 minutes to leave Turin with a famous, and improbable, 3-0 victory.
Gerard Moreno and Arnaut Danjuma both converted penalties with Pau Torres heading home in-between.
In La Liga, Villarreal were beaten 2-0 by bottom of the table Levante on Saturday, meaning they’ve now lost three of their last four outings.
This leaves el Submarino Amarillo seventh, a massive 12 points below the top four positions.
Bayern Munich should cruise to victory at Estadio de la Cerámica, in a tie that could turn out to be a huge mismatch.
Villarreal team news
The last time Bayern Munich lost a Champions League away game was in September 2017, a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
Unai Emery was the Head Coach of PSG that night so will be hoping to mastermind another victory over the Bavarians.
First-choice left-back Alberto Moreno is currently injured, meaning Pervis Estupiñán is likely to deputise.
On the other side, the choice is between two ex-Tottenham players with Juan Foyth getting the nod over the less defensively secure Serge Aurier.
Dani Parejo will continue to orchestrate from midfield; he and goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli are one booking away from missing the second leg.
Gerard Moreno made his return following a calf injury in Turin, starting for the first time since 16 January at the weekend.
This is a major boost and he’ll partner this season’s top-scorer Arnaut Danjuma, who’s got five in the Champions League, in attack.
Bayern Munich team news
Bayern Munich are still without Canadian superstar Alphonso Davies who hasn’t played since mid-December due to a suspected heart condition.
So, Lucas Hernández will continue at left-back, but he has to be careful as a yellow card would rule him out of the second leg next Tuesday.
Julian Nagelsmann has tried some outlandish, and possibly crazy, formations this season, including a sort of 3-2-3-2 in Salzburg.
However-many defenders he goes with, it’ll be interesting to see if Dayot Upamecano, who’s been out of favour, is in the XI.
The reason the team was so attacking is because it featured Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry as wing-backs, with more emphasis on the wing than the back aspect.
A major boost is the return to full-fitness of Leon Goretzka as the midfield anchor, alongside Joshua Kimmich.
Robert Lewandowski will lead the line, looking to add to his 51 goals for club and country this season.
