Manchester United vs Villarreal Combined XI for Europa League final

Manchester United vs Villarreal will take place on Wednesday at Stadion Miejski. The game between two of Europe’s better sides should be an interesting one, although Manchester United do hold an advantage over the Spanish outfit.

Villarreal finished sixth in La Liga while Manchester United finished second in the Premier League.

If you talk about individual quality, we know that Manchester United have better individual players in many positions. Villarreal’s players improve by so much in quality when they play together, though, and it showed in their run to the Europa League final. It’s a team game after all.

Manchester United had quite an eventful semi-final tie with Roma, with the team from England advancing 8-5 on aggregate. Villarreal were solid as always in their games against Arsenal, beating them 2-1 on aggregate.

So, who makes the combined XI? Who makes the cut from both teams? Let’s find out.

Manchester United GK David De Gea

Manchester United have two good goalkeepers in their hands, but I think De Gea still starts the final against Villarreal. He has started their previous four games in Europa League, so it would make sense.

As for Gerónimo Rulli, I think he’s a good goalkeeper, and has performed very well for Villarreal in the Europa League, and has had the most clean sheets, but that’s more of Villarreal’s defense being solid / the opponent’s attack not being so good than him actually being better than usual.

David De Gea has saved more shots in less attempts, so his save percentage is higher than Rulli’s. This was a tough one, but I pick De Gea.