Unai Emery has never faced Leeds United before, but he will be familiar with the man in the opposition dugout when the Whites travel to Villa Park on Friday.
In 2021, Emery's Villarreal were pitted against Jesse Marsch's Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. The Red Bulls had dropped into the Europa League after finishing third behind Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid respectively in their Champions League group.
Villarreal had topped Group I in majestic style by going unbeaten with five wins and one draw. Emery was determined to add a record fourth Europa League crown to his CV, while RB Salzburg were aiming to replicate their run to the semi-finals in 2018.
There were also plenty of links to Leeds when both teams took to the pitch for the first leg in Spain. Rasmus Kristensen and Brenden Aaronson started for the Red Bulls, while January signing Max Wober would be called upon from the bench.
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Former Leeds loanee Alfonso Pedraza also starred down the left flank for the hosts. Marsch was celebrating first in the away dugout when Mergim Berisha opened the scoring for the Red Bulls inside 17 minutes.
Geronimo Rulli inexplicably gave the ball away to Enock Mwepu, who squared the ball for Berisha to present him with the simplest of finishes.
Villarreal equalised just before half-time when Gerard Moreno cut the ball back to deceive both Rulli and Zlatko Junuzovic, before converting confidently underneath the Villarreal goalkeeper.
Just as the first leg looked to be heading for a draw, Cican Stankovic was penalised for upending Moreno inside the box. Moreno, with his head now wrapped in a bandage, provided a composed finish into the bottom corner to give the Yellow Marine a one-goal advantage.
Inside the opening 30 minutes at the Red Bull Arena, Paco Alcacer saw his tame penalty saved by Stankovic, who made amends for his costly error in the previous meeting.
However, Alcacer would put his penalty miss behind him when he popped up in the box to head in Villarreal's opener in the 40th minute. Emery's side secured the tie midway into the second half when Fer Nino was left completely unmarked to guide his header into the bottom corner from Moreno's cross.
Villarreal would go onto defeat Dynamo Kyiv, Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal respectively to set-up a final against Manchester United in the Polish city of Gdansk.
Moreno broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark, only for Edinson Cavani to send the contest to extra-time. In an enthralling penalty shoot-out, Villarreal won the Europa League for the first time, after goalkeeper Rulli converted his spot kick, and then denied David de Gea from 12 yards.
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