Two clubs chasing UEFA Europa League glory will do battle today in a match between Apollon and Villarreal. The group-stage match scheduled for 1 p.m. ET will be held at GSP Stadium in Nicosia and can be live streamed here free. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN Deportes.
What They're Saying
Villarreal manager Marcelino (via Inside Spanish Football): "This is a decisive match and I hope we can end this group stage with a victory and not rely on anyone else. If we were able to qualify by getting a different result, that'd be much better. If both of us were fighting for qualification, things would be a lot more complicated. But that being said, just because they don't have any chance of going through doesn't mean it's going to be easy for us. We need to have the mentality that we need to win at whatever cost and not leave it in the hands of anyone else."
"We're going to play the best possible squad to win," he added. "We need to win and that's why we're going to play our best XI. We're in good form. Our mentality is that every game is our last and in that regard. We're treating this as a final. Our goal is to win this game and that's the only thing we're thinking about."
Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: With Marcelino's best XI in mind, Ikechukwu Uche is projected to start in Nicosia. The 30-year-old has four goals and an assist in 12 league appearances, but has only featured for 78 minutes in Europa League play.
Apollon's Projected Lineup (4-4-2): Vale; López, Angelis, Joao Paulo, Robert; Papoulis, Hamdani, Meriem, Farley; Thuram, Guié
Villarreal's Projected Lineup (4-4-2): Asenjo; Mario, V.Ruiz, Gabriel, Costa; Jonathan, Trigueros, Bruno, Cheryshev; Vietto, Uche
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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