Villarreal head to Anfield to face Liverpool having won just one of their 11 visits to England, drawing a blank on eight occasions.
A promising start offers no guarantee of a happy ending, as Villarreal know all too well. Having begun their European excursions to England in style, trips across the Channel have since turned into recurring nightmares whenever they come up against Premier League opposition.
On their maiden voyage to English shores, Villarreal claimed a historic 2-1 victory over Everton in the qualifying round of the 2005-06 Champions League. Yet that glorious introduction proved to be merely the exception to the rule.
Since then, the Spanish outfit have contested 10 more matches on English soil across the Champions League and Europa League. The return has been dismal: three draws and seven defeats, while finding the net in just two matches—consolation strikes that proved wholly inconsequential—succumbing to Arsenal, United, City, Tottenham and Liverpool themselves. Villarreal now seek to halt that grim run at an Anfield venue steeped in painful memories, having suffered 3-0 and 2-0 semi-final defeats against the Reds in the 2015-16 Europa League and 2021-22 Champions League, respectively.