Villarreal has many more reasons to win here.

They possess a lot of quality, although they have been underperforming this season so far. Coach Marcelino, who has extensive experience in Europe and has had significant success previously, is the third one this season at the club. However, with him, things are expected to improve, as he already achieved considerable success with this team some years ago.

He managed to reach two semifinals in 2015/16 with Villarreal (losing against Liverpool) and also in 2018/19 with Valencia (losing against Arsenal), showing his dedication to this tournament.

A curious thing - it’s possible to see some kind of revenge by Marcelino: When he was in charge of Marseille earlier this season, he was eliminated from the Champions League in penalties by Panathinaikos. So he also knows a lot about this team, as this will be the third time he plays against them.

Although the team has played only two games so far with him (Cup + Liga), the performance in La Liga against Osasuna was impressive, winning 3:1 and showing a change in the players' attitude. In terms of quality, Villarreal is a TOP6 team in Spain, with some game-changers like Gerard Moreno or the in-form striker Morales.

No rotations are expected, and probably, Jose Luis Morales, who has scored 5 goals in 2 games with Marcelino after being reserved the whole season, will start upfront.

On the other hand, Panathinaikos still has chances to qualify. They are 3rd in the group, two points below Villarreal but with one less game played. And we must remember that Villarreal has a pending easy match against Maccabi Haifa, where they are expected to get three points.

However, they will fight for the second position.

They have a weak squad (their value is 55MM euros, while Villarreal is above 185MM Euros) and made poor performances in this tournament so far. They drew against Maccabi Haifa (0:0) being outplayed, lost 1:2 against Rennes at home, and also lost 3:1 against the French team playing away, despite finding an easy game with a red card to the hosts at 33’. However, they were dominated and beaten by a team who played 60 minutes with 10 players.

Their only victory came against Villarreal (2:0), but I think that this team is totally different: they look much more motivated, with fresh minds and performing much better.

Panathinaikos needs the victory to have chances to qualify. A draw will leave them mathematically out of the tournament, so they’ll try to play offensively and take risks, where Villarreal will find an advantage. For Villarreal, it is important to reach the first position as it gives them direct access to the ⅛ finals instead of the 1/16 finals (second position).

As said, I’m expecting a totally different performance by Villarreal, showing the quality they have and playing with a good attitude with the new coach. The quality difference is huge, so playing a serious game, Villarreal should win this one.

比利亚雷亚尔有更多的理由在这里取胜。

他们有很强的实力，尽管本赛季到目前为止表现不佳。马塞利诺教练在欧洲有着丰富的经验，之前取得了巨大的成功，他是本赛季在俱乐部的第三位教练。然而，有了他，事情有望得到改善，因为几年前他已经在这支球队取得了相当大的成功。

他在2015 - 16赛季的比利亚雷亚尔(输给利物浦)和2018 - 19赛季的瓦伦西亚(输给阿森纳)两次进入半决赛，展现了他对这项赛事的投入。

一件奇怪的事情——马塞利诺可能会报复:当他在本赛季早些时候执教马赛时，他在欧冠联赛中被帕纳辛纳科斯罚出局。所以他对这支球队也很了解，因为这将是他第三次与他们交手。

虽然球队到目前为止只与他打了两场比赛(杯赛+西甲)，但西甲对阵奥萨苏纳的表现令人印象深刻，3:1获胜，显示出球员态度的变化。就实力而言，比利亚雷亚尔在西班牙是一支排名前六的球队，拥有像杰拉德·莫雷诺和状态良好的前锋莫拉莱斯这样的改变比赛的球员。

预计没有轮换，可能是在整个赛季被保留后，在马塞利诺的2场比赛中打进5球的何塞·路易斯·莫拉莱斯(Jose Luis Morales)将首发。

另一方面，帕纳辛奈科斯仍然有机会晋级。他们在小组中排名第三，比比利亚雷亚尔低两分，但少踢了一场比赛。我们必须记住比利亚雷亚尔还有一场对阵海法马卡比的轻松比赛，他们有望在那里拿到三分。

然而，他们将为第二名而战。

他们的阵容很弱(他们的价值是5500万欧元，而比利亚雷亚尔的价值超过了185万欧元)，而且到目前为止在本届比赛中表现不佳。他们战平海法马卡比(0:0)，在主场1:2输给雷恩，在客场3:1输给法国队，尽管在33分钟时得到了东道主的红牌。然而，他们被一支只有10人打了60分钟的球队所控制和击败。

他们唯一的胜利是对阵比利亚雷亚尔(2:0)，但我认为这支球队完全不同了:他们看起来更有动力，思维更新鲜，表现也更好。

帕纳辛纳科斯需要这场胜利才有机会出线。一场平局将使他们在数学上被淘汰出局，所以他们会尝试进攻并冒险，比利亚雷亚尔将在这方面找到优势。对于比利亚雷亚尔来说，获得第一名是很重要的，因为这将使他们直接进入⅛决赛，而不是1/16决赛(第二名)。

正如我所说，我期待比利亚雷亚尔有一个完全不同的表现，在新教练的带领下展示他们的实力和良好的态度。实力差距是巨大的，所以打一场严肃的比赛，比利亚雷亚尔应该赢得这场比赛。