Villarreal know their chances of overtaking Bayern Munich in the Champions League will depend largely on whether they can successfully engage Robert Lewandowski.
And given the team's recent success against another top striker, expectations are high. The Spanish club is coming out of a round-of-16 victory over Juventus when its defense got the best of Dusan Vlahovic.
Villarreal defender Pau Torres said the team has enough experience to face some of the world's top forwards and will be ready for the task starting in the first leg of the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
"These are challenges we enjoy," Torres told Marca TV. “Every striker has his own style and we will make sure we know how to make things difficult for Lewandowski. He is a very complete striker. Sometimes it seems like he's not doing much, but in the end, he's always a threat."
Torres faced Lewandowski with Spain at last year's European Championship, a 1–1 draw in the group stage when Lewandowski equalized in the second half.
Vlahovic scored in the first minute of the round of 16 against Villarreal at the La Ceramica Stadium, but neither the Serbian striker nor teammate lvaro Morata could find the net in the second leg in Italy - a surprisingly modest move by the Spanish club. 3-0 win.
Villarreal also faced Cristiano Ronaldo twice in the group stage, with the forward scoring one goal in each Manchester United win.
Lewandowski is the leading scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals in eight matches. He has scored more than 50 goals this season for his club and his country and is third on the all-time list of Champions League scorers, behind Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He has scored seven goals in his last five appearances in all competitions.
"He has great numbers and any team would want to have these types of players," said Torres, who scored one of Villarreal's wins at Juventus in the second leg. We have to do a good job of stopping him and keeping him from scoring against us.
Villarreal midfielder Manu Trigueros said coach Unai Emery - who is in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time - will have to prepare the team to face the mighty Bayern side.
“He pays attention to detail. He dissects everything so that the players have as easy as possible or as many solutions as they need before a match,” said Trigueros. “We had several discussions with him. and he is very talkative, and he goes through the players. Everyone around him spends hours watching videos so that the players have everything they need. ,
Villarreal are coming off their second consecutive Spanish league defeat - a 2-0 loss in second-to-last-place finish at Levante when Emery did not rest many of his regular starters.
The defending Europa League champions, Villarreal, are back in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009. Their best campaign was to play in the semi-finals in 2006 when they lost to Arsenal.
"Villarreal has a coach with a lot of experience to win at the international level," said Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann. "The team is very experienced and we have to figure out how to break them down."
Bayern have made the place 10 times in the last eight seasons in the last 11 seasons. The team is playing in the quarter finals for the record 20th time.