Villarreal take on Bayern focused on stopping Lewandowski

DUBAI: Villarreal know their chances of advancing past Bayern Munich in the Champions League will depend largely on whether they can successfully contain Robert Lewandowski. And hopes are high considering the team’s recent success against another top striker. The Spanish club are coming off a round-of-16 triumph over Juventus, when their defense got the best of Dusan Vlahovic.

Villarreal defender Pau Torres said the squad has enough experience facing some of the world’s top forward and will be ready for the task at hand beginning in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “These are the challenges we enjoy,” Torres told Marca TV. “Each striker has his 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 in last year’s European Championship, a 1-1 draw in the group stage when Lewandowski scored a second-half equalizer. Vlahovic also scored against Villarreal in the first leg of the round of 16, getting on the board in the first minute at La Cerámica Stadium, but neither the Serbian striker nor teammate Álvaro Morata could find the net in the second leg in Italy — a surprising 3-0 win by the modest Spanish club.

Villarreal also faced Cristiano Ronaldo twice in the group stage, with the forward scoring a goal in each of Manchester United’s victories. Lewandowski is the Champions League’s leading scorer with 12 goals from eight matches. He has more than 50 goals this season for his club and his country and is ranked third in the all-time list of Champions League scorers, behind Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.