Villarreal vs Manchester City (UEFA Champions League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City travel to eastern Spain on Tuesday night as they look to get back to winning ways on the continental stage against La La high-flyers Villarreal.

Pep Guardiola’s side continued their superb spell of form on Saturday afternoon with vital three points thanks to a brace from Erling Haaland, seeing the side rise to the top of the league briefly before being dethroned by Arsenal in their evening kick-off win over Fulham.

Manchester City were relatively flat in the first-half against Everton, struggling to create anything of real substance, whilst David Moyes’ side were presented with multiple opportunities to take the lead themselves, failing to capitalise on with poor finishing.

Those in sky blue improved significantly during the second period and eventually found their breakthrough after youngster Nico O’Reilly lofted a superb cross for Erling Haaland to power home with a fine header, giving his side the lead.

Just five minutes later, Manchester City’s striking Viking doubled the advantage after a lay off from Savinho, powering home with no remorse into the bottom corner and taking his tally to a staggering 11 league goals in just eight games.

In fact, the 25-year-old could have found the net a few more times but was thwarted of his first City match ball this campaign by Everton’s No.1, Jordan Pickford. This would prove to be purely trivial, however, as the Norwegian’s brace was enough to defeat David Moyes’ Toffees and earn another huge three points.

Now though, all eyes turn to European action and another three points in the league phase the target following a contentious draw in the sovereign city of Monaco courtesty of a last-gasp Eric Dier penalty last time out in the competition.

Here is everything you need to know as Manchester City prepare for an intriguing clash up against Villarreal in UEFA Champions League league phase action!

Match Details

Villarreal are hosts to Manchester City on Tuesday night, with kick-off at Estadio de la Ceràmica scheduled for 20:00 (UK).

Match Officials

UEFA have confirmed that Dutch referee Serdar Gözübüyük will oversee Villarreal against Manchester City, while fellow Netherlands-born official Rob Dieperink will be the VAR.

Check out the full list of match officials below!

Team News

For the home side, Juan Foyth is a doubt coming into the contest, while Logan Costa, Pau Cabanes De La Torre, Willy Kambwala, Ayoze Perez, and Gerard Moreno are all expected to miss Tuesday night’s game with their respective issues for Villarreal.

Injury burdens have significantly lightened for Pep Guardiola and his staff of late as Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri returned to the matchday squad against Everton, whilst both Mateo Kovacic and Rayan Cherki made substitute cameos.

On a negative note, however, it is unlikely that Rodri will be available to participate having joined Abdukodir Khusanov in being absent from training on Monday morning, with both recently having picked up injuries that occurred prior to the international break.

Nico O’Reilly also picked up a knock against Everton, but returned to training ground activities alongside his teammates at the City Football Academy, and is expected to travel as normal to the east of Spain.

Press Conference Quotes

Pep Guardiola is due to speak with the media from Spain on Monday night ahead of the clash with Villarreal joined by a first-team player from around 18:00 (UK) for the pre-match press conference.

Head-to-Head

Villarreal and Manchester City have only come up against each other twice in their history, both during the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League Group Stage, with the Premier League outfit winning both games by an aggregate score of 5-1.

In the fixture 14 years ago, it was the Blues’ first ever Champions League away win as Manchester City claimed a 0-3 scoreline courtesy of a Yaya Toure brace and a goal from the spot by exuberant Italian striker, Mario Balotelli.

Statistics

Manchester City have only won four of their 14 away games against Spanish teams in the UEFA Champions League (29% – D3, L7). Only against French opponents (25% – 2/8) do they have a lower win percentage away against teams from one nation in the competition (minimum three games).

Pep Guardiola has never lost against Villarreal in his managerial career, facing them on eight occasions (W5, D3). The only Spanish opponents he has faced more times without suffering defeat are Athletic Club (14) and Valencia (10).

Marcelino (Villarreal) and Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) last faced each other as opposition managers in October 2011 in La Liga (Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla). This will be the longest gap that Guardiola has gone between games against a specific opposition manager in his career (5,113 days between the two matches).

Villarreal are still looking for their first win in the UEFA Champions League this season (D1, L1). Only once previously have they had fewer than two points after their first three group stage games in a single edition, losing all three in 2011/12 (their third loss came against Manchester City, 1-2).

How To Watch

For viewers in the United Kingdom, action will get underway from 20:00 BST and is available to stream on TNT Sports and Discovery+.

For those based in the United States, the game is accessible on Paramount+ from 15:00 EST.

Check out the full global TV listings HERE.

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout matchday, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk!