The first Europa League match to start this Thursday will be the return leg of the series between Bayer Leverkusen and Villarreal. "The Yellow Submarine" got a two-goal lead from the first leg, giving the impression that they could've won by a bigger margin. On the other side of the pitch, a confused Bayer Leverkusen side will have to work overtime to keep a clean sheet while feeding their strikers with enough chances to win the tie.
Prior to Thursday's game, Villarreal lost their La Liga matchup against Sevilla, while Bayer Leverkusen ended a four game streak without a win by defeating Hamburg at BayArena.
Bayer Leverkusen
The red-and-black crew finally ended a winless streak that saw them slip from the 3rd spot in the Bundeslig to the 8th. In Roger Schmidt's defense, the series of struggles for his team started with a number of injuries piling up, and this game will be as challenging as those mentioned above. Tim Jedvaj will miss this game due to a one match ban, while Kevin Kampl, Lars Bender, Omer Toprak and a couple more players sit this one out due to injury.
Bayer Leverkusen will base their hopes for success in the skills of their goal scoring duo: Stefan Kiessling and Javier "Chicharito" Hernández, although both of them need to step out of their current goal-less streaks to help Die Werkself.
Villarreal
Marcelino Garcia Toral's side dominated the first leg of this series, and all they need to do is pull it together for 90 more minutes. Their two-goal lead seems to be enough to beat a struggling German team, but they must be wary not to repeat the same mistakes that led them to lose their two most recent La Liga games.
For this match, García Toral will have a number of key absences that might make their performance a bit difficult. Jonathan Dos Santos, Mateo Musacchio and Jaume Costa will have to watch this game from the sidelines due to injuries.
Head to head
This will be the fourth match between these teams, with Villarreal winning each and everyone of them. The Yellow Submarine has outscored Bayer Leverkusen 7-3 in their three previous matches, including last week's victory at El Madrigal.
Where to watch Bayer Leverkusen vs Villarreal on TV or online?
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This game will be broadcasted in Germany by Sky Go Deutschland, TeleClub Sport Live, MDR Info, Sky Sport 1/HD, Sky Sport 2/HD and Sport1.FM at 19:00 hrs CET.
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In Spain, fans will be able to follow this game on beIN Sports Connect S.P. , starting at 19:00 hrs CET.
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Fans living in the U.K. can follow this game on BT Sport Live Streaming and BT Sport Extra, starting at 18:00 hrs GMT.
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In the U.S., Fox Sports GO, Fox Soccer 2GO USA, ESPN Deportes TV, Fox Sports 1 USA and WATCH ESPN will broadcast this game at 14:00 hrs EDT.
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Those living in Canada will be able to follow this game on beIN SPORTS CONNECT Canada and beIN Sports Canada, starting at 11:00 hrs PDT.
Live elsewhere? Check out the Bayer Leverkusen vs Villarreal match page for detailed info to watch this game in your country.
*Please note that all live games, TV Schedules and online streaming info are subject to change.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
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Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
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