Villarreal know what facing Maccabi Tel Avi, but have never come up against an Azeri side
Villarreal CF will face Sivasspor, Qarabag and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Europa League group stages. More than 14,000km separates Vila-real from the cities of Sivas (Turkey), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Tel Aviv (Israel), where the Submarine’s opponents play their home fixtures.
Beyond focusing on the long trips that face Unai Emery’s side in their return to European competition, Villarreal CF have only previously faced Maccabi Tel Aviv. That was in the 2017/18 season, when in the Europa League Group Stage, the Yellows got a goalless draw in Israel and lost by the smallest of margins at home (0-1), when they had already qualified for the knockout rounds as group leaders.
Despite never having faced Sivasspor before, Villarreal have previously faced other Turkish sides in European competition, such as Galatasaray, Trabzonspor, and most recently, Osmalispor.
The Submarine have never played against a club from Azerbaijan before, and have never played in Azeri territory before either.
