by Villarreal receives the already eliminated Maccabi Haifa this Wednesday in a postponed Europa League match, and will do so in search of a victory that allows you to maximize your chances of finishing first in the groupalthough in any case it is already classified.
The match should have been played in the month of October but the open conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamas made the Haifa club ask for its postponement. The duel, declared high risk, will be played with high security measures: only Villarreal season ticket holders will be able to attend the clash and they must do so identified and after passing exhaustive security checks.
In the absence of this match and the last day, Rennes is the leader of group F with twelve points, three more than Villarreal. Below and with no options to be among the first two and advance to the round is Panathiniakos with four points and Maccabi closes with one.
Between Haifa and Cyprus, where they play their home games, the Israeli team resumed training weeks ago but his situation is far from normal. In addition, he arrives with the losses of Goldberg, Menahem, Haziza and Shuranov.
Given that Villarreal visits Rennes on the last day, a victory against Maccabi and another in France would make them leader but having beaten the French team in La Cerámica. It would also be worth adding three points against the Israeli team and tying the last matchor even lose this Wednesday and win on the last day because they would be first according to the tiebreaker criteria.
For Villarreal this will be the fifth game of the ‘second Marcelino era’ and they will face it without knowing defeat in the previous four. The main question is whether the coach will introduce rotations after four games in less than ten days. Alex Sorloth, Dani Parejo and Alberto Moreno have discomfort and are doubtswhile Yeremy Pino, Denis Suárez and Aïssa Mandi are still out due to injury.
Probable lineups
Villarreal: Pepe Reina; Adrià Altimira, Mateo Gabbia, Jorge Cuenca, Alberto Moreno or Alfonso Pedraza; Akomach, Capoue, Manu Trigueros, Alex Baena; Ben Brereton and José Luis Morales.
Maccabi Haifa: Shareef Keouf; Sundgrend, Simic, Abdoulaye Seck, Pierre Cornud; Mahmoud Jaber, Ali Mohamed, Anan Khalaili, Hajaj; Chery and Pierrot.
Referee: Nicholas Walsh (Scotland).
Stadium: La Cerámica.
