Team news and stats ahead of Man Utd vs Villarreal in the Champions League group stage on Wednesday; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Manchester United will be without Harry Maguire against Villarreal, with the defender ruled out for a “few weeks” with a calf injury.

The 28-year-old centre-back, who missed facing the Spanish side in United’s Europa League final defeat in May, limped off in the second half of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Maguire missed training on Tuesday morning, as did left-back Luke Shaw. Shaw could yet feature on Wednesday, but United skipper Maguire faces a spell out of action.

“Luke has been in [on Tuesday], so I’ll give him a chance to be involved,” United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

“Harry is more or less definitely out. It doesn’t look good. So, apart from that, from the bruised pride from the result, we should be ready to go.”

Pushed on Maguire’s situation, Solskjaer said: “It’s his calf. That might take a few weeks, so let’s see how quickly he recovers.”

Marcus Rashford and Amad Diallo trained away from the main group on Tuesday as they continue rehabilitation from injury, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka will miss out through suspension after being sent off in his side’s shock 2-1 loss at Young Boys.

Villarreal will be without two key players for the clash.

Midfielder Francis Coquelin is suspended, while striker Gerard Moreno – who scored in the Gdansk final as well as netting his penalty in the Spaniards’ dramatic 11-10 shootout win – is injured.

Solskjaer embracing pressure: ‘I’m here to win’

Solskjaer again underlined his determination to bring silverware back to Manchester United ahead of the game.

United finished as Premier League runners-up last season and reached the Europa League final, only for their bid to win a first trophy under Solskjaer to end in a galling penalty-shootout loss to Villarreal.

Four months on, the clubs are going toe-to-toe in the Champions League group stage as United look to bounce back from three losses in four matches in all competitions.

The run of results has led to renewed scrutiny and Solskjaer said: “It’s still not a must-win game but it’s a very important game definitely.

“As I said after Young Boys, home games if you get three wins and you win one away game then you should be through, or you will be through.

“The focus is on three points. We’ve been looking at Villarreal again, looking at the final, what we can do better, what worked and what was good in that game and we’ll get a good response from the weekend, of course.”

Opposition in focus: Will United have learned?

Four months on from defeating Manchester United on penalties in the Europa League final in Gdansk to give boss Unai Emery a fourth triumph in that competition, the Yellow Submarine meet the Red Devils again at Old Trafford.

Villarreal kicked off their Group F fixtures with a 2-2 home draw with Atalanta and are 11th in La Liga with eight points from six games, having won one and drawn the other five.

Solskjaer says he has studied May’s meeting again but will he be able to avoid a repeat of a game in which key players were frustrated?

The Norwegian had set his side up to play on the front foot, sacrificing Fred in order to accommodate an extra attacker with Paul Pogba dropping back into the midfield, but the Frenchman offered little from a central position in the way of creativity.

Bruno Fernandes was also stifled in Poland, failing to register a shot on target or create a single chance in 120 minutes, while Edinson Cavani had fewer touches than any other outfield player on the pitch in the first half of the contest.

As well as a startling lack of attacking cohesion, defensive frailties were evident too – and Maguire is of course missing again. A spate of early Dani Parejo corners caused problems and a free-kick eventually caused damage, with Moreno making a darting run inside Victor Lindelof.

Moreno is absent this time but United will certainly have to do better defending dangerous Parejo deliveries.

How to follow

Follow live updates on the Sky Sports website and app from 6.30pm on Wednesday; kick-off 8pm.

You can also follow updates and reaction on Gillette Soccer Special live on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm.

Opta stats

• The five meetings in European competition between Manchester United and Villarreal have all ended in draws, with four of them goalless, except for last season’s UEFA Europa League final (1-1), which the Spaniards won 11-10 on penalties.
• The four UEFA Champions League clashes between Manchester United and Villarreal have all finished 0-0, making it the most played fixture in the history of the competition to see no goals scored.
• Manchester United are winless in their last seven games against Spanish teams in the UEFA Champions League (D3 L4), with their last such victory coming against Real Sociedad back in October 2013 (1-0).
• Villarreal are unbeaten in their last 16 major UEFA European games (W12 D4) across the Europa League and Champions League, the longest current run of any side. The only Spanish team to have a longer run of unbeaten games in UEFA European history is Espanyol between September 2006 and November 2019 (20 in a row).
• Manchester United lost on MD1 of this season’s UEFA Champions League against Young Boys – they have never lost their opening two matches of a major European campaign in their history.
• If he plays in this game, it will be Cristiano Ronaldo’s first UEFA Champions League game at Old Trafford for Manchester United since April 2009 (1-0 v Arsenal). The Portuguese was directly involved in 12 goals in his final 15 home games in his first spell for the Red Devils in the competition, netting seven goals and providing five assists.
• Cristiano Ronaldo will break Iker Casillas’ record for UEFA Champions League appearances if he appears in this match, setting a new record of 178 games. However, Ronaldo has never scored against Villarreal in four previous appearances against them in the competition, only facing Lille and Benfica as often without finding the net (also four games against them).